The Future of Medicine Podcast, where we believe in promoting overall health and prevention over just treating sickness. Join us for the latest in medical advancements and expert advice.

Subscribe and explore:

https://youtube.com/@BrentwoodMD

In my first interview with Dr. Sahil Chopra, the Harvard-trained, quadruple board-certified founder of Empower Sleep, we explored how and why he takes a more comprehensive, individualized approach to sleep medicine than traditional providers.

In our second discussion, I wanted to find out more about what each of us can do personally to improve our sleep, especially with the rise of wearable technology and its readily available sleep data. Is that data truly helpful? How do we make sense of it? And which lifestyle adjustments have the biggest impact on our rest?

Dr. Chopra’s insights offer practical guidance for anyone looking to improve their sleep quality.

The post Sleep Data, Daily Habits, and What Really Improves Your Rest, With Dr. Chopra appeared first on Brentwood MD

The Future of Medicine Podcast, where we believe in promoting overall health and prevention over just treating sickness. Join us for the latest in medical advancements and expert advice.

Subscribe and explore:

https://youtube.com/@BrentwoodMD

Many victories in comprehensive, proactive medicine go unnoticed: good blood pressure, healthy cholesterol, clear arteries. It’s not because patients are unappreciative; it’s simply that they feel relatively the same (unless their metrics get really out of hand).

But sleep is different. When we help someone improve their sleep quality, the impact is immediate and profound. Better sleep translates to more energy, sharper focus, improved mood, and a tangible boost to daily quality of life. And patients notice.

As one of the three pillars of health, sleep matters immensely to me for my patients. That’s why I was thrilled to sit down with Dr. Sahil Chopra, the Harvard-trained, quadruple board-certified founder of Empower Sleep. His approach to sleep care represents a significant departure from traditional sleep medicine, and it’s producing remarkable results for patients throughout the country.

The post Beyond Sleep Apnea: A Comprehensive Approach to Sleep Medicine, With Dr. Sahil Chopra appeared first on Brentwood MD

The Future of Medicine Podcast, where we believe in promoting overall health and prevention over just treating sickness. Join us for the latest in medical advancements and expert advice.

Subscribe and explore:

https://youtube.com/@BrentwoodMD

In my new podcast series, “The Cost of Success,” I’m taking a look behind the curtain at the lives of people who build, lead, and create the most interesting things at the highest levels. We talk about what they’ve made, but more importantly, what it cost them: the pace, the pressure, the tradeoffs, the sacrifices, the scars.

My first guest is Pastor Darren Whitehead, who founded Church of the City in Nashville and grew it to 10,000 people across four locations.

It’s easy to look at an outcome like this and believe it was part of a person’s grand plan all along. But Darren readily admits he’s not a long-term-plan kind of guy. Rather, his story is one of recognizing open doors and having the courage, flexibility, and faith to take risks and walk through them.

The post From Australian Radio to Nashville Church Leadership: The Cost of Success With Pastor Darren Whitehead appeared first on Brentwood MD

The Future of Medicine Podcast, where we believe in promoting overall health and prevention over just treating sickness. Join us for the latest in medical advancements and expert advice.

Subscribe and explore:

https://youtube.com/@BrentwoodMD

In this episode, I continue my conversation with colleague Dr. Jennifer Ker, a board-certified allergist-immunologist with Heritage Medical Associates in Nashville. We dive deeper into important topics that concern millions of families in the U.S. — like severe asthma and food allergies at school — and discuss some of the current management options available for these and other immunological issues.

Join us for insights from the forefront of modern medicine, including some recent research that might surprise you!

The post Safety and Treatment Insights for Food Allergies, Asthma, and More, with Dr. Ker appeared first on Brentwood MD

The Future of Medicine Podcast, where we believe in promoting overall health and prevention over just treating sickness. Join us for the latest in medical advancements and expert advice.

Subscribe and explore:

https://youtube.com/@BrentwoodMD

If you’ve found yourself sneezing through spring or wondering whether certain foods are causing mysterious symptoms, you’re not alone. Allergies affect millions of Americans, yet many people struggle to understand what’s triggering their symptoms or how to find real relief.

I recently sat down with my colleague Dr. Jennifer Ker, a board-certified allergist-immunologist with Heritage Medical Associates in Nashville, to discuss some of the most common questions members bring to me about allergies.

Dr. Ker brings impressive credentials to this conversation, earning her medical degree from the Medical College of Ohio and completing both her pediatrics residency and allergy and immunology fellowship at Vanderbilt University. She also holds a Master of Science in Neurobiology and Physiology from Northwestern University and is a fellow of both the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology and the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.

That combination of intellectual challenge and immediate patient impact drew Dr. Ker to allergy care, and I was eager to get her insights into a topic I felt less equipped to address.

The post From Hay Fever to Food Allergies: An Expert’s Practical Insights for Better Health appeared first on Brentwood MD

The Future of Medicine Podcast, where we believe in promoting overall health and prevention over just treating sickness. Join us for the latest in medical advancements and expert advice.

Subscribe and explore:

https://youtube.com/@BrentwoodMD

What we call “healthcare” in America isn’t really healthcare at all.

Does that surprise you, coming from a doctor? Let me tell you how I got there.

Early in my career, I left family practice because of a deep frustration that still haunts many physicians today. Despite my best efforts and genuine desire to help people, I rarely saw patients get better. With 5,000-person patient panels and tight restrictions on time, I never seemed to have the time or the resources to make a real difference for the people coming to me for help.

Today, I call our modern medical system “sick care” vs. healthcare — not as some childish epithet but as a recognition that while we’ve optimized the system to manage illnesses, we’ve almost entirely ignored promoting and sustaining health.

The post Sick Care vs. Healthcare — And What Real Healthcare Actually Looks Like appeared first on Brentwood MD

The Future of Medicine Podcast, where we believe in promoting overall health and prevention over just treating sickness. Join us for the latest in medical advancements and expert advice.

Subscribe and explore:

https://youtube.com/@BrentwoodMD

I recently had the privilege of sitting down with Brooke Faught, a Doctor of Nursing Practice who has dedicated her career to women’s sexual and pelvic health.

In our previous discussion, we explored women’s sexual wellness and the complexities of low libido. This time, I wanted to dive deeper into another of Brooke’s areas of expertise: safe hormone management for women navigating perimenopause and menopause.

Brooke brings over two decades of experience to these conversations. As the founder of the Women’s Institute for Sexual Health and current Director of Women’s Health at Pazona MD, she’s witnessed firsthand how the medical community’s approach to hormones has evolved — for better and worse. Her expertise as a certified menopause practitioner through the Menopause Society and her fellowship with the International Society for the Study of Women’s Sexual Health give her a unique perspective on critical issues.

Beyond her credentials, Brooke’s passionate advocacy for women’s health has led to significant impact in the field through her research, publications, lectures, and even lobbying efforts.

The post A Women’s Health Expert Shares Insights Into Menopause, Perimenopause, and the Safety of Hormone Therapy appeared first on Brentwood MD

The Future of Medicine Podcast, where we believe in promoting overall health and prevention over just treating sickness. Join us for the latest in medical advancements and expert advice.

Subscribe and explore:

https://youtube.com/@BrentwoodMD

Recently, I had the privilege of speaking to a room full of entrepreneurs, creators, and business leaders — people who are relentlessly driven to maximize their potential.

They wanted to know how to live longer while living better.

We talked about my book, 90 Is the New 60, and I shared my thesis: We’ve entered an age where living into your 90s with the vitality of a 60-year-old is no longer science fiction.

If you take ownership of your health.

For most of my career, I didn’t believe that was possible. Like many of my colleagues, I was trained in a sick care model — a system designed to prevent quick death, not to optimize for long life. But once I left that system and began working with highly motivated individuals who wanted to invest in their quality of life, I realized I hadn’t been seeing the whole picture.

The post Longevity Isn’t an Accident: How to Play Offense and Win More Quality Years appeared first on Brentwood MD

The Future of Medicine Podcast, where we believe in promoting overall health and prevention over just treating sickness. Join us for the latest in medical advancements and expert advice.

Subscribe and explore:

https://youtube.com/@BrentwoodMD

As a physician, I’ve witnessed firsthand how certain aspects of women’s health remain shrouded in silence.

Too often, I’ve sat across from a patient struggling to voice concerns about sexual health, libido, or menopause-related symptoms. And for years, I felt woefully unprepared to address these conversations with the depth and expertise they deserved.

That’s precisely why I was thrilled to sit down with Brooke Faught, a Doctor of Nursing Practice who has dedicated over two decades to transforming women’s sexual and pelvic health.

The post Breaking Down Barriers With Brooke Faught: Insights Into Women’s Sexual Wellness and Libido appeared first on Brentwood MD

The Future of Medicine Podcast, where we believe in promoting overall health and prevention over just treating sickness. Join us for the latest in medical advancements and expert advice.

Subscribe and explore:

https://youtube.com/@BrentwoodMD

We’ve reached the end of sitting back and waiting for a doctor to tell us how to be healthy.

If you want a shot at a long and vibrant life, you have to take ownership of your health now — not when something breaks. The patients I see making the most meaningful progress are those who are loudest about their own goals, values, and ambitions. They don’t outsource responsibility. They show up with intention and curiosity, and they build a team that’s aligned with where they’re going.

That kind of alignment matters. When you and your doctor are working in sync — thinking ahead, chasing the right targets, checking the right markers — you get a frictionless partnership with a high likelihood of great outcomes.

Because here’s the truth: Passive, reactionary medicine is no longer good enough.

You need an offensive mindset. You need a team that’s on board. And, in a system that’s more sick care than health care, you need to self-advocate.

The post The End of Passive Healthcare: How Self-Advocacy Is Your Best Investment in Longevity appeared first on Brentwood MD

The Future of Medicine Podcast, where we believe in promoting overall health and prevention over just treating sickness. Join us for the latest in medical advancements and expert advice.

Subscribe and explore:

https://youtube.com/@BrentwoodMD

I’ve spent nearly two decades as a physician observing patterns, gathering insights, and developing convictions about what’s truly possible for human health and longevity. This journey culminated in my new book, 90 Is the New 60: A Physician’s Guide to Feeling Great and Living a Long Time.

What if we could add not just years to our lives, but decades of vibrant, purposeful living? What if the decline we commonly associate with aging isn’t inevitable but optional?

These are the questions that drove me to write 90 Is the New 60 — because after all my experience, I truly believe that with the right knowledge, adding decades of vibrant living to the back half of life is a legitimate option for many, many people.

The post ‘90 Is the New 60’: Why I Wrote It, Who It’s for, and What I Hope This Book Will Accomplish appeared first on Brentwood MD

The Future of Medicine Podcast, where we believe in promoting overall health and prevention over just treating sickness. Join us for the latest in medical advancements and expert advice.

Subscribe and explore:

https://youtube.com/@BrentwoodMD

As we age, our skin begins to reflect more than just our years. It often tells a story of our lifestyle, sun exposure, and even internal imbalances.

At Brentwood MD, we often hear from members who want to know how to care for their skin as they get older. But they want more than just a list of creams; they want to understand what actually works, what’s worth their time and money, and what aligns with a more comprehensive view of health.

I sat down with Dr. Brooke Eastham, a respected dermatologist at Nashville Skin, to get her take. After discussing skin cancer prevention, our talk turned to skin aging and what we can do about it. I appreciated both Dr. Eastham’s depth of knowledge and her ability to cut through the noise to simplify skincare in a way that truly empowers patients.

The post Beyond the Surface: A Dermatologist’s Thoughts on Aging Skin and Lasting Skin Health appeared first on Brentwood MD

The Future of Medicine Podcast, where we believe in promoting overall health and prevention over just treating sickness. Join us for the latest in medical advancements and expert advice.

Subscribe and explore:

https://youtube.com/@BrentwoodMD

The skin tells a story. Every freckle, mole, and mark represents years of exposure to the elements, genetics at work, and the body’s remarkable ability to protect itself.

Yet for all its resilience, our skin remains vulnerable to conditions that can significantly impact our health and quality of life. Understanding how to protect and care for this vital organ is just as important as caring for our internal biological landscape.

Dr. Brooke Eastham, a respected colleague I’ve known since medical school, brings over a decade of dermatological expertise to this conversation.

The post From Prevention to Precision: A Dermatologist’s Guide to Smarter Skin Health, With Dr. Eastham appeared first on Brentwood MD

Men’s prostate health. It’s something you know is important, something you know shouldn’t be ignored, but — if you’re like most of us males — you continue to turn a blind eye to it anyway.

Maybe you’ve been making one too many nighttime bathroom trips, or perhaps you’ve noticed some leaking you’d rather not acknowledge. You’re not the only man suffering in silence.

Urological problems are inevitable as you age, but they don’t have to define your quality of life.

When it comes to navigating your greatest asset — your health — you need a well-informed voice to help you better understand the symptoms, treatments, and implications of the most common urological ailments.

Dr. Benjamin L. Dehner, Chief of Urology at St. Thomas West in Nashville, Tennessee, is a urologist I know you can trust. If you’re not yet ready to walk into a urologist’s office and request the urological care you may need, Dr. Dehner can get you started here.

Why Your Urological Health Should Be a Top Priority

When you think of your health and wellness, what comes to mind first? Most men think immediately of their heart health or their weight. Very few jump to men’s prostate health. In fact, most busy, high-powered men completely ignore their urological health until symptoms become too painful to ignore.

While pretending something doesn’t exist is a protective instinct for many, it only undermines your health and vitality in the long run. Urological disease can affect the kidneys, bladder, urethra, prostate, penis, and testicles. That’s nothing to ignore or shrug away!

A urologist understands the complex interconnections between the various components of the urinary and reproductive systems. Even if you don’t understand your urological symptoms or realize their significance, a urologist will.

Three specific conditions in particular pose a threat to men’s prostate health with age: benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), erectile dysfunction (ED), and prostate cancer.

Learning to recognize signs of these conditions and understanding your treatment options if they appear are the first steps to preserving your comfort, vitality, and independence as you grow older.

Men’s Prostate Health: Top 3 Threats

What Is Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia?

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) develops with age, plain and simple. Simply put, BPH is an enlarged prostate gland. Since the prostate gland sits beneath your bladder, the condition increasingly blocks the flow of urine through your urethra over time.

As a man, you know that urinary issues don’t make comfortable dinner table conversation. Your kids might crack jokes about your frequent bathroom stops on road trips, but you tell yourself it’s a normal consequence of aging.

But what happens when BPH interferes with your personal life or your success at work? As Dr. Dehner explains, if you’re the guy who’s staring at the clock waiting to get out of meetings so you can run to the bathroom, BPH is disrupting your life. Other telltale signs of BPH include symptoms like:

• Frequent nighttime urination
• Difficulty beginning urination
• Urgent need to urinate
• Weak or inconsistent urine stream
• Dribbling after urination
• Difficulty emptying the bladder

A BPH symptoms survey helps to measure the true severity of your BPH symptoms. Though your survey score doesn’t replace the medical advice of a urologist, it offers an important first step in assessing your condition and seeking a real diagnosis.

How to Take Care of Your Prostate: Treating BPH

One myth in particular pervades conversations about BPH. You’ve probably heard it yourself: You’re stuck with BPH forever! It’s all part of getting older… just deal with it.

Toss that myth into your mental garbage bin now. Our grandparents and great-grandparents might have been “stuck with” BPH, but medical advances in urological care over the last 10 years have made the condition easy to treat or even reverse!

The first step is to identify any lifestyle habits that may be contributing to your BPH symptoms. Dr. Dehner sees this all the time: “Say you came to me at 40 and said, ‘I’m getting up at night once or twice,’ or ‘I get up in the morning and I go six times before noon.’ Well then, the first thing is, what are you drinking?”

If you’re drinking a pot of coffee before lunch, your BPH symptoms may be resolved by simply reducing your intake.

If dietary changes alone don’t do the trick, medication with alpha blockers is the next step. Flomax, Uroxatral, and Rapaflo are all popular alpha blockers that relax the bladder and prostate to make urination easier.

Many men with BPH crave the relief medication provides, but they don’t want to rely on pharmaceuticals for the rest of their lives. New minimally invasive procedures offer an alternative path while reducing or eliminating reliance on medication.

UroLift, for example, is a one-time, in-office solution that lifts and holds the enlarged prostate. This keeps the prostate from blocking the urethra and allows urine to flow freely again, all without invasive surgery or removal of prostate tissue.

Urological Care: Dangers of Untreated BPH

If you’re still tempted to ignore your BPH symptoms and accept your fate of waking up to pee six times each night, let’s talk consequences.

When you allow BPH to run rampant, ignore urology tests, and put off proper urological care, you impact your long-term health and quality of life. As your prostate grows, you retain more urine in your bladder. Your bladder muscles become thicker and stronger as they fight to get that urine out. This reduces your bladder’s elasticity and causes it to degrade.

The ultimate result? Ignoring your BPH may leave you with no choice but to use a catheter later in life.

Believe me, no one wants a catheter, no matter their age. So address your urological health while time is still on your side.

What Is Erectile Dysfunction?

Erectile dysfunction is even less enjoyable to discuss than BPH, but it’s another heavy hitter in the realm of men’s prostate health.

Funny enough, it’s only thanks to Viagra’s marketing campaigns that ED has become a public topic. Before the age of Viagra, men suffered from erectile dysfunction in silence and humiliation. Now we understand that ED has specific root causes that can be identified with urology tests and treated by a urologist.

#1 Cause of Erectile Dysfunction

The most common cause of erectile dysfunction is reduced blood flow to the penis. And, unfortunately, many chronic conditions potentially limit blood flow to the penis, including:

• High blood pressure
• High cholesterol
• Hardening of the arteries
• Heart disease
• Obesity
• Diabetes

Since the artery that flows to the penis only measures one millimeter in diameter, it’s vulnerable to blockages. This makes ED an early marker of more dangerous problems, including heart attack and stroke. Identifying the core cause of your erectile dysfunction can save your life, not just your sex life.

The Diabetes-to-ED Connection

Diabetes and ED may not seem connected on the surface, but they’re actually closely intertwined. Research shows that men with diabetes are three times more likely to experience ED than men without diabetes. They may also begin showing symptoms of ED up to 15 years earlier than their peers without diabetes.

Diabetes and ED are linked because of the damage uncontrolled blood sugar levels wreak on the nerves and blood vessels:

• Diabetes leads to damage of the nerves that control sexual stimulation and response.
• Diabetes harms the small blood vessels needed to sustain blood flow to the penis.

This is frustrating and dangerous! But the good news is that diabetes can be effectively controlled — and sometimes even reversed — through healthier lifestyle habits like proper diet and exercise.

How to Take Care of Your Prostate: Erectile Dysfunction Treatment Options

You don’t want to live with ED, and the good news is that you don’t have to. Lifestyle changes, medications, and other products are proven to reduce symptoms of ED.

Viagra and Cialis are the best known medications for ED. Viagra acts quickly and is best for predictable, in-the-moment needs. Keep in mind that Viagra can’t be absorbed as well on a full stomach, so it’s not the best choice for a romantic moment after a heavy steak dinner.

Cialis works for up to 36 hours, so it’s a better option for men with less predictable or more frequent needs. Some men have success taking a low dose of Cialis on a regular basis to maintain a strong baseline.

Thanks to generic versions of these medications, men can address ED more affordably than in the past. However, always discuss new medications with your primary care physician — and never order them from suspect sources.

These medications can have side effects, so be sure to consider them with your doctor: Viagra is known for headaches, congestion, and temporary visual changes, while Cialis is known to cause back pain.

If these medications don’t help as much as you’d like, consider products like rings or pumps to maintain a stronger erection in the moment. They’re inexpensive, safe, and easy to use.

TriMix, an injectable three-drug prescription, is also an option for men who want to deliver ED medication straight to the source, rather than relying on systemic absorption of a pill to produce results.

Living with ED isn’t something you have to face alone. With the help of your urologist, you can find the best treatment for you and your lifestyle.

What Is Prostate Cancer?

We’re told to worry about heart attacks, stroke, and dementia, but prostate cancer is a major threat to men as well. Like BPH, prostate cancer is a nearly unavoidable disease of age.

Genetics, hormones, and lifestyle all influence your vulnerability to prostate cancer, but you’re almost guaranteed to experience some level of prostate cancer if you live long enough.

This doesn’t mean, however, that you need to sound the alarm bells right away. It’s generally recommended that men begin prostate cancer screening at age 50. The only exception is for men with a clear and direct family history of prostate cancer, in which case testing by age 40 is best.

At the moment, PSA testing is the best urology test we have for prostate cancer. A urologist uses PSA results to identify your risk and recommend treatment protocols. Prostate cancer is a slow-growing disease, so it can usually be identified early and treated before it spreads or becomes aggressive.

How to Take Care of Your Prostate: Cancer Treatment

We’re fortunate that science and medicine have developed numerous treatment methods for prostate cancer. You don’t have to become a victim of this disease!

The first option is called watchful waiting. This means you understand that hints of prostate cancer are developing and may grow, but that the specific cancer type grows very slowly. You work with your urologist to track the cancer’s progress, making sure it doesn’t accelerate or spread. It’s actually possible for prostate cancer to grow so slowly that it never threatens your health or quality of life!

If watchful waiting isn’t feasible, work with your urologist to determine the best course of action. There’s no one “best” prostate cancer treatment; it’s very patient-specific and based upon personal preference, disease characteristics, age, and more. A few of the most common prostate cancer treatment options include:

• Removal of the prostate
• Targeted radiation
• Cryotherapy (freezing of the prostate)
• Ultrasound energy treatment

In the face of prostate cancer, you have to ask yourself one main question: How do I navigate my ambitions with the need to treat this disease given the available treatments? This means considering the potential side effects and expected benefits.

Many men have a strong initial reaction that screams, “Get my prostate out! I’m done with this!” But prostate removal is no longer the only option, and it certainly isn’t always the best. Allow yourself the opportunity to adjust your treatment plan if the trajectory of your disease changes and an alternate choice makes more sense.

Men’s Prostate Health: Stay Proactive for Vitality and Longevity

Any man who values his goals, ambitions, and independence must also value his prostate health. As you know from your past successes and challenges, staying proactive is the most powerful tool you have in your arsenal. If you approach your prostate health with that same level of focus, you can stop serious problems before they ever start.

As a urologist, Dr. Dehner has committed his career to helping patients across the country as they navigate their urological health. Though based in Nashville, Tennessee, Dr. Dehner is passionate about consulting with and advising patients, regardless of their location.

Conversations about urological care and men’s prostate health are dynamic and often emotional. This is why forming a relationship with a urologist you trust is immeasurably valuable. An optimal and long life is what you deserve — so what are you waiting for?

The post Men’s Prostate Health: Why Urological Health Is Vital for Every Man appeared first on Brentwood MD

You’re not just tired; you’re knock-down, drag-out exhausted.

You’re not just irritable; your moods surge in unpredictable highs and lows. 

Your hair is thinning and falling out. 

Your menstrual cycle and weight follow the same miserable roller coaster as your moods.

Do any of these issues sound familiar? If you’re nearing or past 40, you might be tempted to blame your symptoms on aging or perimenopause. Not so fast! The real culprit could be your thyroid.

The thyroid is one of the most misunderstood and mismanaged components of our bodies. And, unfortunately, women are up to eight times more likely to experience a thyroid imbalance than men.

Could you be one of the millions of women suffering from an undiagnosed thyroid imbalance?

If you are, it’s my goal through this conversation to help you make connections between your health issues and your thyroid. Thyroid optimization and education are passions of mine — because I simply can’t stand to see so many women today suffer with symptoms they shouldn’t have to endure.

By the end of this thyroid discussion, I want you to walk away equipped with the tools you need to advocate for your thyroid health and the knowledge you need on how to optimize your thyroid function.

The days of letting thyroid symptoms slide are over. It’s time to approach your physician and say, “Hey, let’s talk about whether my thyroid has something to do with this.”

What Is the Thyroid Gland?

You might not know much offhand about your thyroid, and I wouldn’t blame you. This complicated little organ affects, well, everything about how your body works.

The thyroid is a small, butterfly-shaped gland that sits at the base of the neck, directly in front of the esophagus. It produces some of the most biochemically active hormones in the body. Thyroid hormones are involved in dozens of physiological processes and are especially important in women, touching nearly every system in the female body.

Don’t let the thyroid’s size fool you into thinking it doesn’t matter. Just as a car needs an engine to produce its energy, your body needs its thyroid gland for similar reasons.

The thyroid is closely interconnected with the bloodstream and brain to produce and release thyroid hormones into your body. These hormones provide the energy your body needs to perform essential functions, including:

• Body temperature regulation
• Mood stabilization
• Energy production
• Metabolism support
• Iron production
• Menstrual cycle regulation

As the engine of your body, the thyroid needs fuel. Iodine, a mineral found naturally in certain foods, functions as that fuel. When you eat iodine-containing foods, your thyroid identifies that iodine in your bloodstream and extracts it to synthesize the thyroid hormones T4 and T3.

The pituitary gland in the brain works a little like a gas pedal and brake pedal alongside the thyroid “engine” and iodine “fuel,” accelerating or slowing down the production of thyroid hormones as needed.

Using thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), the pituitary gland tells the thyroid to produce more hormone if your body needs it and adequate fuel is present. Conversely, the pituitary can release less TSH if less thyroid hormone is required.

Signs Your Body Might Need Thyroid Optimization

As my residency director always said, thyroid disease is the great masquerader. It can present as just about any condition. But one thing’s certain: If your thyroid isn’t optimized, you can guarantee it’s wreaking havoc on your health.

Just like you don’t wake up one morning weighing 200 pounds more than you did the night before, you don’t develop a thyroid condition overnight. Your thyroid function either improves or declines gradually over time.

At Brentwood MD, we see women just about every day who are considering, debating, and thinking about their thyroid function. Many have mentioned their concerns to physicians, only to be told their levels are perfectly normal. Yet their symptoms persist!

Any of the following issues may indicate that your thyroid isn’t working the way it should:

• Weakness
• Fatigue
• Dry skin and coarse or thinning hair
• Intolerance to the cold
• Weight gain
• Constipation
• Muscle cramps
• Irregular periods

My talented partner and nurse practitioner, Jen Justus, experienced many of these issues herself, and she knows firsthand how frustrating it can be to have genuine symptoms that conventional doctors dismiss as insignificant.

“My husband would always comment, ‘Don’t forget your jacket!’ even when it was warm in the spring,” she shares. And Jen’s definitely not the only one. If you need a zipped-up parka in a 70-degree room, something’s not right.

Thyroid Levels: When Testing Falls Short

So, what would happen if you walked into a conventional primary care physician’s office and told them you feel like a walking thyroid disease commercial?

The doctor would probably run a standard thyroid panel to determine your TSH levels. If your TSH levels fall within the “normal” range, then — voila! — you don’t have thyroid dysfunction — or so your doctor has been taught. From there, they’ll disregard any possibility that your symptoms stem from thyroid dysfunction or that thyroid optimization might help.

Which is why the TSH test — on its own — is often part of the problem, not the solution.

TSH levels don’t tell the whole story, and looking at them on their own has led to widespread mismanagement of the thyroid.

This is exactly why we test all of our Brentwood MD members to assess TSH, free T4, and free T3. We never look at just one in isolation.

When we take the time to get the full picture, we have the tools not just to fight thyroid disease but also to work toward thyroid optimization. In other words, we’re aiming for better than “normal”; we’re aiming for excellent.

Jen emphasizes: “We’re looking for our best life, and we’re looking to feel the best that we possibly can.”

Why Should You Get Your Thyroid Levels Checked?

If you’re still here reading this, then you must recognize a connection between your thyroid function and your overall health or quality of life. Only by having your thyroid levels carefully checked by a knowledgeable physician can you confirm whether you’re walking around with subclinical hypothyroidism.

Subclinical hypothyroidism refers to a subtle thyroid imbalance that many doctors miss in their rush to move to the next patient or issue. Women with this condition feel very real symptoms but show “normal” thyroid hormone levels in conventional thyroid screenings.

These women — like you! — get lost in the “middle” between patients with obvious hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism, forcing them to suffer without an official diagnosis or professional treatment. If you have subclinical hypothyroidism, your doctor might tell you it’s all in your head or stick you on antidepressants for an easy solution.

All of this is exacerbated by the fact that most patients get less than 10 minutes to visit with their primary care doctors each year. Regular doctors are under so much pressure to move quickly from patient to patient that they can’t stop to listen, carefully assess symptoms, and compare lab tests to uncover the truth.

Why Normal vs. Optimal Thyroid Function Matters

“Normal” is a dangerous word. It sounds positive: You’re just like everyone else, hooray! In reality, “normal” indicates that you merely fall within the standard margin of the average unhealthy adult. If the average adult is overweight and borderline diabetic, do you really want to stay in their lane?

No, probably not. That’s why I care so much about thyroid optimization. There’s a dramatic difference between normal thyroid function and optimal thyroid function.

“Normal” thyroid function is imperfect. It keeps you chronically operating at 70% of your best self. Sure, you can survive like that, but it’s not how you’d choose to live your life if you had another option.

There’s no single “perfect” thyroid level. Everyone is different, which is the beauty of what we do in practicing individualized care. That said, most women usually feel better with natural thyroid free T3 levels between 4 and 4.4 pg/mL.

Hair Loss

Women usually don’t experience significant hair thinning and hair loss until they hit their 50s, at which point most assume it to be the result of androgenic alopecia. Androgens are metabolic byproducts of testosterone that have a toxic effect on hair follicles.

But wait… How can we blame a woman’s hair loss on androgens when most women age 50 and older are about to hit menopause and aren’t producing hormones anymore? The “androgen-sensitive hair loss” theory goes right out the window.

It’s far more likely that suboptimal thyroid function is causing thin, brittle hair. In which case, learning how to optimize your thyroid levels may help to restore and improve the quality of your hair.

Jen speaks from experience on this subject, as she started taking Armour Thyroid (a bioidentical hormone therapy) for her underperforming thyroid. “On a personal level, my hair was very thin five years ago when I moved to Nashville. Even my stylist was like ‘Gosh, let’s try biotin! Let’s try a special shampoo!’” she shares. “Here comes Armour Thyroid, and now my hair is thicker than it’s ever been. That’s a confidence booster!”

Low Energy

If your thyroid isn’t functioning at optimal levels, your symptoms start to build on each other. Ongoing fatigue leads to irritability, which leads to symptoms of depression. You feel defeated — like you’re trying to sprint, but your body is stuck in quicksand.

We speak to people coping with these issues every day.

They’ll say, “I’m active, I work out, but I don’t have the energy. I have to force myself. I just don’t feel like I should.”

Natural thyroid optimization restores the thyroid’s ability to regulate your body’s metabolic rate, body temperature, and brain function. This helps you break through that wall of fatigue and finally feel revitalized.

Heart Disease

Most people wouldn’t imagine much connection between thyroid function and heart disease, but the research is clear. According to the Rotterdam Study, women with subclinical hypothyroidism have twice the risk of developing hardened arteries, heart attack, and stroke.

The simple act of learning how to optimize your thyroid function with bioidentical hormone therapy may literally cut your risk of heart disease in half!

So, not only does optimizing your thyroid function make you feel great by supporting your mood and energy, it also prevents a doubling of your cardiovascular disease risk profile. If that doesn’t get your attention, what will?

Take Action to Optimize Your Thyroid Function (and Your Life!)

You have two choices: Allow your “normal” thyroid function to diminish your quality of life, or learn how to optimize your thyroid function right now for a better future.

And good news! The solution is simple. You can easily take control of your thyroid and improve your health using bioidentical hormone therapy.

Bioidentical hormones like Armour Thyroid and Nature-Throid are exactly the same as the thyroid hormones your body produces. They’re compounded from natural sources in compounding pharmacies using the exact molecules and ratios found in the body.

As soon as this natural thyroid replacement works its way into your system, it helps to optimize your active thyroid and rapidly eliminate unwanted symptoms.

How to Optimize Thyroid Function: Action Steps

Here at Brentwood MD, we have hundreds of women (and some men too!) who have successfully optimized their thyroid function using Armour Thyroid or Nature-Throid. If you want to experience the same revitalization, empower yourself with these steps.

First, find a provider who’s willing to listen. You need and deserve a doctor who does more than strictly check your TSH levels and send you home. Choose a doctor who will check all the right lab levels and consider how you feel when creating your treatment plan! You’ll know you’ve found the right doctor when they encourage ongoing conversations about your progress, symptoms, and feedback.

Second, get your levels checked, specifically TSH, free T4, and free T3. These tests are simple — no fasting required! — and you can get them any time. In fact, you can go right now. Advocate for yourself and make sure your labs reflect TSH, free T4, and free T3. Once you have your results, begin a conversation with your doctor about their meaning and underlying trends.

The truth is, subclinical hypothyroidism is never obvious. It needs to be hunted. If your doctor is doing their job well, they’ll understand that hypothyroidism hides and must be found using a combination of holistic techniques.

Many doctors see 40 patients a day and don’t have time to “hunt.” Those aren’t the doctors you need. They only have time to put out major fires, so unless your thyroid is burning down your body, it’ll be overlooked.

The thyroid is such a complex topic that the conventional model of medical care simply doesn’t provide enough time to plumb its depths.

I hope this gives you a glimmer of hope and shows you that there is a real, tangible reason you feel as exhausted and defeated as you do. You have so much room to improve once you get aligned with a team that’s willing to have this conversation with you!

The post How to Hunt for Suboptimal Thyroid Function and Optimize Your Thyroid Levels appeared first on Brentwood MD

The Future of Medicine Podcast, where we believe in promoting overall health and prevention over just treating sickness. Join us for the latest in medical advancements and expert advice.

Subscribe and explore:

https://youtube.com/@BrentwoodMD

My North Star is helping people live a long time and feel great doing it.

The most useful approach I’ve found to accomplish this is to reverse-engineer the diseases most likely to take you off the planet. So when we talk about serious health threats here, it isn’t speculation. It’s data.

The good news? Of the top 10 killers of human beings, you can take steps toward delaying, preventing, or overcoming most of them.

My good friend Zane Griggs and I recently had the privilege of speaking to a group of movers and shakers in Nashville on this subject to illuminate the pathways we consider most valuable for disease prevention, detection, and longevity. I’d like to share my thoughts from that talk with you, too.

The post Prevention and Detection: The Two Sides of the Longevity Coin appeared first on Brentwood MD

The Future of Medicine Podcast, where we believe in promoting overall health and prevention over just treating sickness. Join us for the latest in medical advancements and expert advice.

Subscribe and explore:

https://youtube.com/@BrentwoodMD

In the world of health optimization, we’re bombarded with an overwhelming array of options: new supplements, trendy diets, cutting-edge devices, and wellness practices.

With so much information, it’s easy to get lost in the minutiae and miss the most basic factors that truly make a difference.

What I’ve discovered through years of working with patients is surprisingly simple: most health challenges are either avoidable or reversible if you focus on the right things.

You don’t need to perfect 27 new health habits. For most people, investing in three to four key health multipliers will send cascading benefits across their entire health landscape.

The post The Power of Health Multipliers: Find Your 3 to 4 Game-Changers appeared first on Brentwood MD

The Future of Medicine Podcast, where we believe in promoting overall health and prevention over just treating sickness. Join us for the latest in medical advancements and expert advice.

Subscribe and explore:

https://youtube.com/@BrentwoodMD

As a concierge physician, part of my job is to think about my members’ health even when they don’t have time to think about it themselves.

People are busy with family, business, charity work — all the elements of life that are meaningful to them. And that’s a good thing. So, having an advocate who aligns with your goals, knows your values, and is incentivized to keep you healthy by watching your blind spots while you focus on living is incredibly powerful.

As part of Brentwood MD’s comprehensive health optimization plan, we take a proactive approach to ferreting out developing health threats that would eventually damage either your quality or quantity of life. Two of the largest health threats we help members watch for — and ideally prevent — are cancer and metabolic disease.

The post Personalize Your Care: Health Optimization, Early Cancer Detection, and Metabolic Management appeared first on Brentwood MD

The Future of Medicine Podcast, where we believe in promoting overall health and prevention over just treating sickness. Join us for the latest in medical advancements and expert advice.

Subscribe and explore:

https://youtube.com/@BrentwoodMD

Both now and in the past, I’ve dedicated my career to helping people achieve optimal health. Few areas of medicine have captured my attention and passion more than metabolic health.

Over the years, Jen (Brentwood’s nurse practitioner extraordinaire) and I have worked with hundreds of patients struggling with weight issues, insulin resistance, and metabolic syndrome. Addressing these is a deeply personal and often frustrating journey. And no two stories are exactly alike.

In this episode of the Future of Medicine podcast, I want to share three powerful weight loss case studies — including my own personal experience. Each is unique, but the lessons they offer are universal. If you’ve ever felt stuck, overwhelmed, or just plain fed up with the weight loss roller coaster, these stories might provide the inspiration or insight you need.

The post Real-Life Weight Loss Case Studies to Inspire Your Journey appeared first on Brentwood MD

The Future of Medicine Podcast, where we believe in promoting overall health and prevention over just treating sickness. Join us for the latest in medical advancements and expert advice.

Subscribe and explore:

https://youtube.com/@BrentwoodMD

We all juggle countless worries every day. But when one of them is your health, you really only have one worry.

Optimal health is elusive when pursued within our current sick care system. Many experience a slow, reactive, and one-size-fits-all approach because the system’s incentives are misaligned. Its infrastructure and economic backing are built around disease management, not disease prevention.

Years ago, I left the conventional system to practice medicine in the concierge model, where my team and I answer only to our members — not insurance companies, big hospital systems, or anyone besides the person we’re serving. We aim to provide the structure and support for members to achieve health goals as ambitious as their professional and personal aspirations.

In this episode of the Future of Medicine podcast, I’ll cover some of the key areas that everyone should be thinking about and focus on a mental paradigm shift away from the current sick care model.

The post The Longevity Mindset: Add Decades to Your Life and Feel Good Doing It appeared first on Brentwood MD

The Future of Medicine Podcast, where we believe in promoting overall health and prevention over just treating sickness. Join us for the latest in medical advancements and expert advice.

Subscribe and explore:

https://youtube.com/@BrentwoodMD

The functionality of our upper extremities is essential for almost every aspect of daily life. From lifting a morning coffee cup to typing on a keyboard or enjoying a round of golf, our arms, hands, and shoulders are constantly in motion.

Yet many of us only truly appreciate this intricate system when pain or discomfort begins to interfere with our activities. That’s when expertise in upper extremity care becomes crucial for maintaining our quality of life.

The post Spotlight Edition: Understanding and Managing Upper Extremity Pain, with Dr. Samuel Crosby appeared first on Brentwood MD

The Future of Medicine Podcast, where we believe in promoting overall health and prevention over just treating sickness. Join us for the latest in medical advancements and expert advice.

Subscribe and explore:

https://youtube.com/@BrentwoodMD

Join Dr. Craig Wright as he welcomes Dr. Lauren King, a licensed psychologist from Southeast Psych Nashville. In this insightful episode, they tackle the mental health challenges of modern living.

Dr. King shares her expert insights on navigating the pressures we face in our professional and personal lives. From managing health anxiety to harnessing the power of mindfulness, this episode is packed with practical strategies to calm our busy minds.

Plus, enjoy Dr. King’s refreshing perspective on raising children and discover the psychological principle of “good enough” parenting, an approach that fosters resilience and independence in kids.

Finally, explore the complex world of food relationships and body image as Dr. King offers valuable guidance for cultivating healthier attitudes for ourselves and our families.

Tune in for an episode that’s not just thought-provoking but actionable!

The post Spotlight Edition: Insights on Navigating Stress, Parenting, and Healthy Eating, With Dr. Lauren King appeared first on Brentwood MD

The Future of Medicine Podcast, where we believe in promoting overall health and prevention over just treating sickness. Join us for the latest in medical advancements and expert advice.

Subscribe and explore:

https://youtube.com/@BrentwoodMD

There’s a pattern I’ve observed over the years working with men — particularly high-achieving men who are deeply dedicated to their families, businesses, and communities. They’re the kind of guys who go all in on everything they do, except for one critical area: their health.

Somewhere along the way, men often let their physical and emotional health slide without even realizing it. And before they know it, they’re facing down serious consequences and wondering, how did I get here?

But it doesn’t have to be that way. Let’s explore why men tend to give up on their health and, just as importantly, how they can fight that tendency.

The post Why Men Give Up on Their Health — and How to Take It Back for Good appeared first on Brentwood MD

The Future of Medicine Podcast, where we believe in promoting overall health and prevention over just treating sickness. Join us for the latest in medical advancements and expert advice.

Subscribe and explore:

https://youtube.com/@BrentwoodMD

Dr. Wright sits down with Dr. James Earls, a pioneer in advanced cardiovascular imaging, to explore the potential of Cleerly’s CT angiography technology in proactive heart health management.

Together, they discuss how Cleerly’s comprehensive plaque analysis provides a full picture of heart health, going beyond traditional screenings. Dr. Earls introduces us to the new Cleerly Ischemia test, a breakthrough in predicting blood flow issues with unprecedented accuracy.

But it’s not all about the tech! Hear stories of patients whose lives were transformed after seeing their own Cleerly scans. Whether you’re a Cleerly convert or just curious about innovative cardiac care, this episode has something for you. Tune in!

The post Spotlight Edition: Advanced Imaging and AI Lead to Big Changes in Cardiovascular Care, With Dr. James Earls appeared first on Brentwood MD

The Future of Medicine Podcast, where we believe in promoting overall health and prevention over just treating sickness. Join us for the latest in medical advancements and expert advice.

Subscribe and explore:

https://youtube.com/@BrentwoodMD

The average life expectancy in our country is about 78 years, up from 70 years just a few decades ago. Modern advances in medicine, health education, and many other factors now make it possible for humans to live longer than ever before. We just need to take advantage of it!

That said, 78 doesn’t need to be the limit. It’s possible — even simple! — to add 30 productive and vibrant years to your life. Your grandfather might have been resigned to a lifespan of 60, but you don’t have to be.

With a strategic health and lifestyle approach, 90 can be the new 60.

The post 90 Is the New 60! How to Add 30 Impactful Years to Your Life appeared first on Brentwood MD

The embedded podcast episode was recorded in 2020. Since then, some of our viewpoints on the finer points of intermittent fasting have evolved, which are reflected in the article below.

You don’t need a 400-page diet guide to turn your health around.

You wouldn’t know it from the hundreds of “trendy” diet and weight loss books on Amazon, but improving your health doesn’t have to be complicated.

With all the keto this and gluten-free that cluttering up newsfeeds and bookshelves, it’s no wonder the simplicity of intermittent fasting has attracted attention. Whether you’re overweight, diabetic, or too busy for optimal self-care, intermittent fasting could be a useful tool in your belt for bringing your body back into physiological harmony.

If you’re intrigued by intermittent fasting but not sure how to adopt it into your daily routine, we’re sharing an easy quick-start guide with insights on how to make fasting work for you right here.

What Is Intermittent Fasting?

There’s more than one way to fast, so we first need to clarify what we mean by intermittent fasting and distinguish it from fasting generally.

According to my friend and intermittent fasting pioneer Zane Griggs, “Generally speaking, our dependence on body fat for fuel starts to be elevated after about 12 hours of not taking in any sort of calories.”

So, at its core, intermittent fasting means going at least 12 hours between meals.

After 12 hours, your body mobilizes excess fat to burn energy. In other words, an extended period without eating jumpstarts weight loss by creating a healthy gap in caloric intake and allowing your body a chance to regain homeostasis.

More sustained fasting, in contrast, involves going for 24 hours or longer without food. This is not what we’re talking about here.

According to current research, while fasting for longer windows may similarly promote weight loss, some of those shed pounds are likely lean muscle mass. On top of that, evidence suggests these longer fasting periods may not confer the same longevity benefits as shorter fasting windows.

Fasting is an excellent example, then, of more not necessarily being better. As far as our current knowledge extends, aiming to fast for more than 12 but less than 24 hours appears to be most beneficial with the lowest possibility of side effects.

What Does Successful Fasting Look Like?

What exactly defines successful fasting? Put simply, a successful fast means staying out of your body’s way for 12+ hours. Rather than overloading your system with new calories every few hours, successful fasting gives your body the opportunity to reset, recalibrate, and burn fat.

In our experience, the most effective intermittent fasting calls for a 14- to 18-hour window of no calorie intake, followed by a 10- to 6-hour window of healthy eating. For many people, this is as simple as skipping breakfast.

How to Start Intermittent Fasting

I talk with patients every day who practice commitment and discipline in their careers, finances, faith, and relationships, but who still struggle with one major obstacle: food.

What Zane and I appreciate about intermittent fasting is that it strips away the complexities, questions, and decision-fatigue that surround most popular weight loss and wellness strategies. Absent those difficulties, many people find they can master intermittent fasting and achieve their goals with far less difficulty than they expected.

It’s Not All or Nothing

There’s no one “right” way to start intermittent fasting. Some people can flip a switch and jump right into it, but others need to modify their eating behaviors gradually.

I count myself in the latter group. I was addicted to food, stumbling to the pantry for breakfast each morning before I was even awake. It took me six months to adopt intermittent fasting habits, which included delaying my first meal of the day. My system took time to realize that, no, it didn’t actually need calories first thing in the morning — it just wanted them.

We’re an overfed nation. It’s ingrained in our psyche to start with a huge breakfast and then snack throughout the day. We’ve conditioned our bodies to expect this constant train of calories, so we can’t be surprised if it takes time to acclimate to eating less often.

With intermittent fasting, you have the freedom to determine what works for you — and it may not look the same as what works for someone else. Remember to be kind to yourself and to set realistic expectations for your lifestyle.

If you’d like some ideas for how to start, here are a few possibilities to get you going. Start with:

• Monday, Wednesday, Friday only
• The weekend only
• The minimum 12 hours only

As your body and mind acclimate to your new discipline, you can add more days to your practice or more hours to your fasting windows.

Intermittent Fasting: Step by Step

If you’re ready to try intermittent fasting, below is a step-by-step guide to help you get started.

Step 1: Cut Out Breakfast

Most of us have heard the well-tread American mantra, “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” So where does that leave intermittent fasting?

Well, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that you don’t have to eat breakfast to be healthy. The bad news? Cereal manufacturers invented that ubiquitous breakfast “advice,” which has influenced the American diet ever since.

The truth is, the best and easiest way to begin intermittent fasting is to cut breakfast out of your routine.

Your body works its own magic in the morning. Cortisol hormones and adrenals surge to help you wake up, become alert, and generate energy. Introducing food only interrupts these processes.

By skipping breakfast, you take advantage of your body’s natural rhythm to maximize the benefits of fasting.

Step 2: Find the Best Time to Work Out

Many people think they can’t work out while they’re fasting, but the opposite is true. Morning is an excellent time for a vigorous workout! You’re fresh and have hormonal optimization on your side.

Afternoon and evening workouts aren’t always as effective as they could be; you’re fatigued from the day, consumed with whatever new stressors landed in your lap at work, and fighting the urge to slip off your shoes and unwind.

I was loyal to my afternoon workout routine for more than a decade, but switching to an early morning gym schedule has been a game-changer for my fitness. If I don’t work out first thing in the morning, I can practically see the sliding scale as I lose my opportunity throughout the day for a quality workout. Life gets busy, and my body gets drained!

Step 3: Can You Drink Coffee While Fasting? (Relax — You Can!)

I can almost hear the hint of panic in your voice: “Can you still drink coffee while you fast?!”

Yes! Luckily for coffee drinkers everywhere, our favorite morning ritual doesn’t boost our blood sugar or disrupt our fast.

If you can’t stomach the idea of black coffee, then yes, it’s okay to add some creamer… but not much. Your body will have to burn through the fat in that creamer before it can get back to burning your stored fat.

What about coffee drinkers who need to mask the bitterness with sweetener? Zane warns against even all-natural sweeteners, including cane sugar, honey, and agave. They may be “natural” sugars, but they immediately send your blood sugar and insulin levels surging, kicking your body out of fasting altogether.

If you need a hint of sweetness in your coffee, stick to a small dash of Stevia. Most artificial sugars are dangerous because they stimulate cravings and trick your digestive system into preparing for sugar that isn’t coming. This is highly disruptive to the fat-burning process intermittent fasting achieves.

Overall, the question of coffee boils down to your goals. If you’re on a mission to lose 50 pounds, adding cream to your morning brew could slow your progress. But a lightly sweetened cup of coffee is much better than a slice of cheesecake! It’s all about balance.

Step 4: Diabetics, Fasting Is for You, Too!

Zane has worked with many diabetic clients who believed intermittent fasting posed too much of a risk.

But as he explains, “I don’t know of a better way to control diabetes or reverse those symptoms than finding some way to introduce fasting.”

Type 2 diabetes is a disease of elevated blood sugar, and intermittent fasting is an efficient way to lower and balance blood sugar levels through better eating strategies.

In my practice, I believe intermittent fasting might just be the greatest tool my patients have to improve their glycemic control. As long as it’s accomplished using a strategic, physician-guided plan, diabetics may be able to use intermittent fasting to reduce or eliminate their reliance on medication and diminish the effects of diabetes.

Step 5: Use the Rhythms of Fasting to Schedule Lunch and Dinner

So when, exactly, can you eat?

“The simplest approach… is skipping breakfast and having coffee or tea,” Zane says. “If your goal is weight loss, eat a low-carb lunch and dinner.”

Your first meal of the day takes place after your fasting period ends, which means all your eating occurs in a compressed window of about six to eight hours.

“That’s give or take. Make it work with your schedule… If it’s six hours, great. If it has to be nine one day, don’t beat yourself up,” Zane emphasizes.

That’s the beauty of intermittent fasting: there’s no right or wrong. It’s one tool to improve your health in whatever way makes sense with your routine.

If Zane could recommend an ideal intermittent fasting schedule, here’s what he’d suggest:

• Stop eating after dinner (8 p.m. at the latest).
• Skip breakfast, enjoy your black coffee or tea, and fast until noon.
• Break your fast with a low-carb lunch.
• If you need a snack, make it light.
• Enjoy a healthy dinner, then start the fast again.

Once you feel comfortable with the rhythm of intermittent fasting, you can experiment with extending your fast an hour or two longer. Remember, find the schedule and fasting window that works for you.

Step 6: Embrace Dinnertime Community

There’s a good reason most people skip breakfast instead of dinner. Historically, evening meals are social and interpersonal experiences. We use dinner as an opportunity to recover from activities, reconnect with family, and celebrate the end of another day. You don’t need to deprive yourself of that rich experience.

Instead, take the opportunity to practice mindfulness as you eat. You’ll appreciate every bite of your food so much more than you would have if you’d been snacking your way through the day. In his experience, Zane has noticed that intermittent fasting is most successful when we retain dinner as our core food connection.

Step 7: Eat Toward Your Purpose

We’ve established when to open your mouth during intermittent fasting. But once you do, what exactly should you eat? There’s no one correct answer; it all depends on your goals.

If You Want to Lose Weight…

If you’re fasting to lose weight, Zane recommends limiting the amount of carbohydrates and sugars you eat. Make this as easy as possible by planning the meal you’ll use each day to break your fast. Eliminate your ability for poor, impulsive decisions by prepping a satisfying, low-carb lunch. Don’t break your fast when the only thing around is Burger King.

Dinner should include a lean protein and veggie, but it’s okay to add a healthy starch or fat. Remember: You’re rewarding — not punishing — yourself with nourishing, satisfying foods.

If Weight Loss Isn’t Your Main Goal…

If you’re fasting for the sake of health and longevity, focus on eating real foods. What does that mean? If it wasn’t food 100 years ago, it’s not food today.

Steer clear of processed, packaged foods, and read labels to avoid the hidden trap of added sugars. Aim for a good balance of proteins, healthy fats, and veggies. When you indulge in real foods, you automatically control your intake of sneaky carbohydrates.

Step 8: Try 24-Hour Fasting One Day a Week

While I don’t recommend fasting for days on end, periodic 24-hour fasts can be invigorating.

It’s easy to psych yourself out over the 24-hour fast. But once you’re comfortable with intermittent fasting generally, a 24-hour fast one day a week isn’t such a big leap.

A 24-hour fast is easiest to start after dinner. Then, instead of breaking your fast with lunch at 1 p.m., push on for a few more hours to break your fast with dinner and celebration.

I can tell you from personal experience that the first meal after a 24-hour fast is so satisfying. There’s nothing else like it — not to mention the fat-burning and biochemical benefits of giving your body a 24-hour reset.

Step 9: Say “No” to an Intermittent Fasting Cheat Day

Zane doesn’t pull any punches on the topic of intermittent fasting cheat days: “I’m not even sure what the point is.”

A cheat day is equivalent to a binge day for most people, but the effects of the binge don’t disappear after 24 hours. It can take three or four days to recover from the effects of a cheat day, reign in your cravings, regain your energy and focus, and get back on track.

“If your goal is weight loss and you’re trying to get somewhere effectively, why throw it all off with an entire meal of something like pizza or a bunch of pancakes?” Zane asks. A surge of 1,500 calories of junk during an intermittent fasting cheat day will drive you in the opposite direction of your goals.

Indulge, Don’t Cheat

Indulging is different from cheating. A small slice of pie or a couple cookies every once in a while can help you scratch an itch before you turn into a full-blown dessert monster.

For best results, plan your indulgences ahead of time. This will keep you from giving in every time you have a craving. These indulgences can help keep you motivated and boost your mood.

Be Realistic With Yourself

To make intermittent fasting part of your lifestyle and reach your long-term goals, remember to be realistic. Commit to a schedule and eating pattern that are sustainable for you.

If fasting for 18 hours a day and eating low-carb for the remaining six will lead to a bunch of cheat days, then that isn’t the schedule for you. Find what works for your goals, your body, and your lifestyle, so you can commit to it for the long haul.

Intermittent Fasting for Longevity: It’s About More Than Weight Loss

One of intermittent fasting’s greatest health benefits is prolonging the period in which your body lacks immediate sources of energy. When you go 16 or 18 hours without raising your blood glucose levels, you don’t have to release any insulin. When you finally do eat and trigger an insulin response, the insulin shows up, does its job, and disappears.

This process fosters insulin sensitivity — the opposite of insulin resistance, diabetes, and so many other metabolic problems. If you want to eat for longevity, fasting is a great place to get started.

Unlike other dietary changes, intermittent fasting isn’t food deprivation; it’s food appreciation. You eat real foods when your body actually needs them, rather than snacking mindlessly on junk and suffering through your days in an overfed trance.

In Zane’s experience and my own, intermittent fasting is the gateway to applying discipline to the art of eating. Since it involves defined goals and clear planning, intermediate fasting is a realistic and attainable strategy for busy, highly successful people.

What Are the Side Effects of Intermittent Fasting?

People often worry that intermittent fasting will make them hungry and grumpy all the time. For some, that may be true as they get started. But — as long as you don’t give in to those initial hunger pangs — your body adjusts quickly and begins to appreciate having a break from digestion.

Patients often report having better focus and mental clarity after they start intermittent fasting. This is because, in a fasted state, your body breaks down stored fat into ketones to use as fuel. The brain actually operates better when it’s fueled by ketones instead of sugar. Studies have even shown potential long-term benefits for the brain, such as a decreased risk of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

As I mentioned above, intermittent fasting also causes your body to become more sensitive to insulin. A commitment to intermittent fasting can reverse the effects of prediabetes and help you avoid type 2 diabetes.

Of course, intermittent fasting can also help with weight loss. Many Americans could stand to lose a few pounds, so this is great news for most of us. However, if you’re not trying to lose weight or if you’re underweight, talk with your doctor and a dietitian to determine a healthy intermittent fasting plan for your body and goals.

Is Intermittent Fasting Safe?

Yes, intermittent fasting is safe for nearly everyone, with a few exceptions. Most people can maintain an intermittent fasting schedule on a daily basis, and all you’ll do is make yourself healthier. Zane is living proof:

“I’ve done it daily for years! I look at fasting as a way to maintain a healthy, active lifestyle into those years of my 60s, 70s, and 80s.”

That being said, there are some situations where you should talk to your doctor before trying intermittent fasting:

• Women with a history of amenorrhea
• Women who are trying to conceive
• Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding
• People who are underweight or have a history of eating disorders
• People who have diabetes or have trouble regulating their blood sugar
• People who are on certain types of medication

It’s also generally advised that children under the age of 18 should not fast.

When you unpack it, intermittent fasting is a way to map your short-term goals, like losing weight and gaining more energy, with your long-term goals, such as delaying the onset of chronic diseases and living a long, fulfilling life.

How to Begin Intermittent Fasting: Final Thoughts

Zane has forever transformed the way I approach eating and fasting for health, and I hope our discussion here has helped you discover a valuable new perspective as well.

While no single solution is a perfect fit for everyone, intermittent fasting offers a general approach to eating that I believe could benefit many in our overfed, energy-abundant society. If you find this path intriguing, I encourage you to speak with your doctor or dietitian about whether intermittent fasting could benefit your health.

If you’d like to learn more about Zane Griggs and his intermittent fasting expertise, you can find him here.

The post A Quick-Start Guide to Intermittent Fasting: How to Adopt Fasting Into Your Daily Routine appeared first on Brentwood MD

The Future of Medicine Podcast, where we believe in promoting overall health and prevention over just treating sickness. Join us for the latest in medical advancements and expert advice.

Subscribe and explore:

https://youtube.com/@BrentwoodMD

Get ready for a gut check! In this episode, Dr. Wright sits down with gastroenterologist Dr. Spiceland to dig into all things digestive health.

They tackle the rising rates of colon cancer in younger folks, break down the best screening options, and talk about when that nagging heartburn might be more than just a nuisance. Plus, learn how your diet impacts your gut (spoiler: those processed snacks aren’t doing you any favors) and get the scoop on exciting new developments in GI medicine, like using AI to boost colonoscopy accuracy.

Whether you’re due for a screening or just want to keep your digestive system happy, this episode serves up practical advice with a side of cutting-edge insights. Tune in for a conversation that’s sure to get your gears turning about gut health!

The post Spotlight Edition: Gut Health, Heartburn, and Cancer Prevention With Dr. Spiceland appeared first on Brentwood MD

The Future of Medicine Podcast, where we believe in promoting overall health and prevention over just treating sickness. Join us for the latest in medical advancements and expert advice.

Subscribe and explore:

https://youtube.com/@BrentwoodMD

Some quotes just have that ring of truth about them.

One that captures and conveys a reality so many high-achieving, driven individuals struggle with comes from Tony Robbins:

“Success without fulfillment is the ultimate failure.”

As a physician who’s witnessed countless lives unfold, I’ve come to realize that true success isn’t just about achieving goals — it’s about finding fulfillment as you do so.

The post Health, Wealth, and Happiness: A Physician’s Take on Living Through Purpose appeared first on Brentwood MD

The Future of Medicine Podcast, where we believe in promoting overall health and prevention over just treating sickness. Join us for the latest in medical advancements and expert advice.

Subscribe and explore:

https://youtube.com/@BrentwoodMD

In this eye-opening episode of Spotlight Edition, host Dr. Craig Wright sits down with cardiologist Dr. James Gentry for an engaging conversation about heart health. Prepare to be surprised as they discuss when you should really start thinking about heart disease prevention and explore cutting-edge tools for assessing risk.

Dr. Gentry shares valuable updates on aspirin use, blood thinners, and cholesterol management while offering practical advice on interpreting chest pain. Learn about the risk associated with even minimal calcium buildup in arteries and the unexpected cardiovascular benefits of a popular weight-loss medication.

Whether you’re aiming to maintain a healthy heart or reverse existing risk factors, this episode is packed with actionable information. Tune in for a discussion that’s both informative and potentially life-changing.

The post Spotlight Edition: New Insights on Heart Health With Dr. James Gentry appeared first on Brentwood MD

The Future of Medicine Podcast, where we believe in promoting overall health and prevention over just treating sickness. Join us for the latest in medical advancements and expert advice.

Subscribe and explore:

https://youtube.com/@BrentwoodMD

The number one killer of humans is heart disease, and right behind it at number two is cancer. The latest data tells us that approximately one in four people will receive a cancer diagnosis in their lifetime.

The post Navigating Cancer Screenings in 2024: Play Offense AND Defense appeared first on Brentwood MD

The Future of Medicine Podcast, where we believe in promoting overall health and prevention over just treating sickness. Join us for the latest in medical advancements and expert advice.

Subscribe and explore:

https://youtube.com/@BrentwoodMD

In our latest podcast, we revisited the herculean task of addressing how to parent yourself — or reparent yourself, as the case may be.

By examining the patterns in our lives with curiosity — not with judgment — we begin to discover where suboptimal aspects of our upbringing impact us in subtle yet important ways. And once we identify them, we can learn to reparent ourselves in those areas.

The post How (and Why) to Parent Yourself appeared first on Brentwood MD

The Future of Medicine Podcast, where we believe in promoting overall health and prevention over just treating sickness. Join us for the latest in medical advancements and expert advice.

Subscribe and explore:

https://youtube.com/@BrentwoodMD

Join me as I sit down with Dr. Tyler Brazelton, owner of Excel Health and Performance in Nashville, for an enlightening discussion on the transformative power of physical therapy.

We explore cutting-edge therapies like high-powered laser, radial pressure wave, and dry needling and how they complement traditional manual techniques to optimize recovery and prevent future injuries. Dr. Brazelton shares valuable insights on the importance of proactive physical therapy assessments to identify and address areas of weakness or suboptimal mobility, even in the absence of obvious pain or injury.

Whether you’re a performance athlete or simply looking to maintain an active, pain-free lifestyle as you age, this episode is a must-listen. Tune in now and discover how physical therapy can be your secret weapon for lifelong health and well-being.

The post Spotlight Edition: Physical Therapy for Optimal Health With Dr. Brazelton appeared first on Brentwood MD

The Future of Medicine Podcast, where we believe in promoting overall health and prevention over just treating sickness. Join us for the latest in medical advancements and expert advice.

Subscribe and explore:

https://youtube.com/@BrentwoodMD

In this “Spotlight Edition” of The Future of Medicine Podcast, our host, Dr. Craig Wright, is joined by Dr. Bijoy John, a renowned sleep specialist with over 25 years of experience. Dr. John shares his top seven sleep strategies proven to help you achieve better health and happiness.

So whether you’re struggling with sleep onset or maintenance or just simply fascinated by the topic, don’t miss this opportunity to prioritize your sleep and transform your life with Dr. Bijoy John’s expert guidance.

The post Spotlight Edition: Sleep Is Our Superpower with Dr. Bijoy John appeared first on Brentwood MD

The Future of Medicine Podcast, where we believe in promoting overall health and prevention over just treating sickness. Join us for the latest in medical advancements and expert advice.

Subscribe and explore:

https://youtube.com/@BrentwoodMD

We spend a lot of time talking about top killers like cancer, heart disease, and dementia on this blog. But what about osteoporosis?

Many people are aware that bone density loss poses an increasing risk as you age. But can osteoporosis kill you?

While you won’t find it on any official “top killers” list, that’s only because people aren’t talking about osteoporosis this way — yet.

The post Osteoporosis: A Top 10 Killer of Women (That No One’s Talking About) appeared first on Brentwood MD

The Future of Medicine Podcast, where we believe in promoting overall health and prevention over just treating sickness. Join us for the latest in medical advancements and expert advice.

Subscribe and explore:

https://youtube.com/@BrentwoodMD

If your goal is to live a long time and feel great, then appropriately risk stratifying your cardiovascular future has to rank at the top of your to-do list.

Heart disease unfortunately remains the number one killer of humans in the U.S. and beyond, taking an estimated 17.9 million people off the planet each year. That’s a staggering statistic, and one we’re not okay with.

For this reason, we take a little time each year to review the state of cardiovascular care, what progress has been made, and how you can take advantage of any advances in screening or treatment.

The post Cardiovascular Blind Spots and How Cleerly Is Changing the Game (Again) appeared first on Brentwood MD

The Future of Medicine Podcast, where we believe in promoting overall health and prevention over just treating sickness. Join us for the latest in medical advancements and expert advice.

Subscribe and explore: https://youtube.com/@BrentwoodMD

One topic that’s been generating a lot of buzz in the health and fitness realms lately is Zone 2 training. Maybe you’ve heard of it.

As a physician interested in health multipliers, I’m always on the lookout for more effective ways to help members optimize their health and longevity. So, I thought it was time to document some early thoughts on the subject.

What exactly is Zone 2 training, what are its benefits, and is it relevant to you?

The post How Zone 2 Training Benefits Fitness and Longevity appeared first on Brentwood MD

The Future of Medicine Podcast, where we believe in promoting overall health and prevention over just treating sickness. Join us for the latest in medical advancements and expert advice.

Subscribe and explore:

https://youtube.com/@BrentwoodMD

As a concierge doctor, I’m committed to helping my patients live their longest, healthiest lives. What that comes down to is taking every action possible to delay chronic disease, especially metabolic disease.

Why metabolic disease? Simple. This one disease leads to many of the top killers of humans today, such as heart disease, cancer, and dementia.

To prevent these chronic diseases, we need to take control of our metabolic health. One of the most important ways to do that is through our dietary habits.

Don’t worry; I’m not here to prescribe some new restrictive meal plan that takes all the joy out of life. Instead, I want to share three simple dietary habits you can implement this year to improve your metabolic health and keep chronic illness at bay.

The post 3 Simple Diet Habits to Prioritize for Health and Longevity appeared first on Brentwood MD

The Future of Medicine Podcast, where we believe in promoting overall health and prevention over just treating sickness. Join us for the latest in medical advancements and expert advice.

Subscribe and explore:

https://youtube.com/@BrentwoodMD

Nearly everyone practices a little goal-setting in January.

The new year is a reasonable time to reflect on the past and set new goals for the future. Yet it’s practically a proverb that these resolutions don’t last past the first month or two as we fall back into old patterns.

Why is that? Is it a lack of motivation? Of discipline? What’s the solution?

The answer may surprise you.

The post From Successful to Fulfilled: Aligning Discipline With Life’s Vision appeared first on Brentwood MD

The Future of Medicine Podcast, where we believe in promoting overall health and prevention over just treating sickness. Join us for the latest in medical advancements and expert advice.

Subscribe and explore:

https://youtube.com/@BrentwoodMD

As parents, one of the greatest privileges we have is the opportunity to shape our children into the people we hope they’ll become.

Recently on my podcast, I had an enlightening discussion about the core virtues I aim to impart to my two sons as they journey through childhood into adulthood. I want to share some of my reflections here in hopes that they may spark your own thinking about what truly matters most in life.

The post 6 Things I Want My Children to Know The Most appeared first on Brentwood MD

The Future of Medicine Podcast, where we believe in promoting overall health and prevention over just treating sickness. Join us for the latest in medical advancements and expert advice.

Subscribe and explore:

https://youtube.com/@BrentwoodMD

We discuss a lot of cutting-edge topics on the Future of Medicine podcast. Maybe one day we’ll discuss a cure for cancer, but until then, I want to talk about the excellent and widely available screenings available right now for some of the most common cancers.

Unfortunately, not everyone takes advantage of these early detection methods. Though many of us say it’s due to busyness, in reality, fear is a driving factor.

You don’t know what you don’t know, and it can seem better to remain in the dark. However, my colleague Jen Justus and I want to bring to light the life-saving importance of regular cancer screenings.

The post Screening Smarter: How to Protect Yourself from Common Cancers appeared first on Brentwood MD

If you consume any amount of alcohol, this is a conversation about how to think about it.

We’re not here to bash alcohol or suggest you become a teetotaler. We want you to be thoughtful about why you consume it and how it affects your body and mind. Because if you have health goals — and if you’re having trouble meeting them — you’re probably underestimating the effects of alcohol on your progress.

The post Alcohol Has Benefits, but They Come at a Cost appeared first on Brentwood MD

Weight loss is one of the most frequent conversations we have in our practice. Our members are never short on questions, concerns, frustration, and confusion, and I’m here for it.

In our society, diet and fitness have almost taken on a cult-like status, with strict rules and regulations guiding the pursuit of transcendence (e.g., the beach body).

As the science of weight loss has evolved, so too has our conviction about the most important factors that facilitate weight loss. Here, we’re taking an up-to-date look at these top weight-loss factors and sharing some insights gained from personal experience.

The post Making Gains in Our Understanding of Weight Loss appeared first on Brentwood MD

They say no news is good news, but that isn’t always true.

When it comes to dementia, we very much want there to be news. We’ve spent the last 25–30 years searching for a cure — or even a treatment — but it continues to elude us.

While we can’t treat Alzheimer’s at this time, if we can identify it early, we might be able to slow it down long enough to see a medical breakthrough on a therapeutic level. For now, our goal is to arm you with information so you and your doctor can manage your risk factors.

The post Dementia Update 2023: Cure Elusive, but Risk Factors Coming to Light appeared first on Brentwood MD

As someone who’s navigating my own cardiovascular risk profile along with those of my patients, I’m excited to share with you the three cutting-edge diagnostic and therapeutic tools you need to know about in 2023 for cardiovascular risk reduction.

But first, let’s rewind: what exactly is heart disease?

The post Pioneering Cardiovascular Progress: The 3 Cutting Edge Diagnostic and Therapeutic Tools You Need to Know About in 2023 appeared first on Brentwood MD

If you’ve read our blog or listened to our podcast before, you’ve heard Jen and I talk about metabolic syndrome as a significant contributor to disease and an antagonist to longevity.

This topic is so significant that we’ll dedicate this entire post to it, answering questions like:

• What is metabolic syndrome?
• How do you diagnose metabolic syndrome?
• Can you reverse metabolic syndrome?
• How do you treat metabolic syndrome?

The post Can You Reverse Metabolic Syndrome? appeared first on Brentwood MD

To really make significant progress in optimizing our health, we have to learn to recover better. And by that, I mean we need to learn to sleep better. Because the most important aspect of recovery in the human experience is sleep.

To be clear, this post isn’t an instruction manual on how to sleep better, though we’ve covered some best practices for sleep improvement in the past. This post is a look at sleep as the number one contributor to an optimal health journey, and why we may have been thinking about it all wrong for too long.

The post The 3 Pillars of Health: Pillar #3 — The Recovery of Sleep appeared first on Brentwood MD

This month, my podcast copilot Jen Justus and I get into part two of our three-part series, “The Three Pillars of Health.”

Part two is a subject we’re both deeply passionate about: how we need to move our bodies in the physical fitness journey toward our best self. That’s the reason we exercise: we deserve those results.

The post Think and Grow Stronger appeared first on Brentwood MD

This month, my podcast copilot Jen Justus and I cover part one of a three-part series I’m calling “The Three Pillars of Health.”

Here in part one, we discuss eating — a vitally important topic that really hits home for both Jen and I. Specifically, we take an in-depth look at how we should feed our bodies and how to optimize our diet.

The post The 3 Pillars of Health: Pillar #1 — Eating appeared first on Brentwood MD

Parenting oneself is an incredibly powerful and rich concept introduced in previous episodes by this month’s podcast guest, Dr. Brian Hooper — psychotherapist, pastoral counselor extraordinaire, and dear friend of mine. Together, we dug deep to discover further application, beauty, and power in this subject.

Parenting yourself may not be what you think, but it’s more than what you expect.

If you’d like to learn more about Dr. Hooper and his work, be sure to check out his website.

https://drbrianhooper.com/

The post How Parenting Yourself Is the Surprising Secret to Healthy Growth appeared first on Brentwood MD

In today’s episode, host Dr. Aaron Wenzel sits down with his new colleague, Dr. Craig Wright. Dr. Wright recaps his medical journey and explains how his practice has changed since joining Brentwood MD.

The post A Doctor’s Surprises Since Becoming a Concierge Physician appeared first on Brentwood MD

At Brentwood MD, we talk a lot about the latest and greatest options for health care. Here, my fantastic podcast copilot, Jen Justus, and I review the basic screening tests you need to get for three of the most common cancers: breast, prostate, and colon. These tests are readily available, inexpensive, and don’t require a fancy concierge service.

And the best part? They can literally save your life.

The post The Cancer Screenings You Must Get appeared first on Brentwood MD

In this month’s podcast, Jen Justus and I discuss the risks AND benefits of alcohol and how to evaluate them in relation to your health.

I want to provide you with a framework to have an honest conversation with yourself about your health goals and how alcohol factors in.

No matter how much you drink, you should know both the risks and the benefits of drinking alcohol.

The post An Honest Discussion About Risks vs. Benefits of Alcohol appeared first on Brentwood MD

This month, my podcast copilot Jen Justus and I talk about a modern-day epidemic. It’s a disease that’s become so common in the United States that we’ve almost normalized it — a dangerous development that keeps us from talking about just how harmful this disease is.

The post Obesity appeared first on Brentwood MD

In this month’s podcast, Jen Justus and I aren’t helping people become dementia experts — because even the experts are still confused. Instead, we provide some framework for how to think about this important topic, information about what dementia is, and how we diagnose it using dementia diagnostic tests.

The post Dementia: New Insights and a Plan for Action appeared first on Brentwood MD

Whether you’re surfing YouTube, browsing at Barnes & Noble, or flipping through Instagram posts, you can always find them: the “experts” telling you exactly what to eat.

Yet they all say something different.

Is the keto diet the way to go? Atkins? Mediterranean? South Beach? Every long list of nutritional advice offers a unique avenue to better health; some bring success, and others only bring frustration and disappointment.

My talented nurse practitioner, Jen Justus, and I believe we’ve been placing our weight loss focus on the wrong question.

“It’s the number one question we get in the exam room when we meet with patients,” Jen says. “‘What should I be eating?’ Or maybe they say, ‘I know what I should be eating, but I don’t really do it consistently.’ But when to eat never comes up.”

I’ve spent years studying and practicing in the obesity and weight loss space. During that time, I’ve advised countless patients on weight loss using a low-carb diet. But after a few eye-opening conversations about intermittent fasting with Zane Griggs, and after using it myself, I wondered… had I been missing a piece of the puzzle?

As a result, I’ve spent years digging deep into the power and potential of intermittent fasting. By focusing not just on what we eat, but on when we eat, we can do more than lose weight. We can optimize our bodies and minds to escape the jaws of fatigue and perform at maximum capacity.

The Three Levers of Restriction

I’m hopelessly curious, which is why I love to explore the ideas presented by industry leaders and trusted voices like Peter Attia.

Peter recently provided one of the most eloquent descriptions of nutrition that I’ve ever seen. Instead of focusing solely on food, Peter described his nutritional framework by outlining three forms of restriction. These three parameters or “levers” can be used in combination to achieve optimal nutrition and wellness:

• Dietary restriction (DR): What you eat or don’t eat
• Caloric restriction (CR): How much you eat or don’t eat
• Time restriction (TR): When you eat and don’t eat

While Lever 1 and Lever 2 can quickly become convoluted with calorie trackers, meal prep recipes, and costly grocery bills, only the time restriction lever offers simplicity. In fact, diligent use of time-restricted fasting (often known as intermittent fasting) is so effective that it can easily achieve the goal of Lever 2 as well!

This is important to know since most people need to pull at least two levers to achieve sustainable weight loss.

What Exactly Is Time-Restricted Fasting?

Time-restricted fasting and intermittent fasting are both terms used to describe the process of limiting when your body takes in food to a certain time window. For example, you might have an 8-hour eating window between 12:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., followed by a 16-hour fasting window from 8:00 p.m. to 12:00 p.m. the following day.

This type of time-restricted eating forces the body to burn fat for fuel since it can’t access glucose from your last meal or snack. At the same time, intermittent fasting automatically restricts your calorie intake as well. With Lever 2 and Lever 3 already “pulled,” any improvements you make to Lever 1’s eating habits — reducing carbs, increasing lean protein, etc. — just helps to achieve more dramatic results!

Intermittent Fasting and Decision Fatigue

Beyond weight loss, intermittent fasting offers some surprising benefits, such as its ability to reduce decision fatigue. You know the feeling of decision fatigue well, even if you’ve never put a name to it.

Decision fatigue is the wall you hit when your energy and focus become completely depleted. It’s most notable at the end of a long day at work when Excel sheets and emails start swirling into a blur and simple tasks start taking five, 10, or even 20 minutes. You shut your laptop and think, “I’m done. I need to go home.”

Some of the most brilliant and influential people in the world understand the dangers of decision fatigue, which is exactly why they eliminate unnecessary choices from their routine. Mark Zuckerberg and Mark Cuban, for instance, wear basic t-shirts and jeans every single day. Steve Jobs became known as much for his iconic black turtleneck and khakis as for his technological innovations. By avoiding the numerous questions and decisions that surround the wardrobe process, these billionaires preserve their focus for more important matters.

Decision fatigue may even exhibit itself in court rulings. An interesting study that examined 1,100 parole board hearings found that favorable outcomes, like probation and rehabilitation, dropped from 65% at the beginning of a “decision session” to nearly 0% at the end of each session. Decision sessions lasted from mealtime to mealtime, and the precipitous decline in favorable outcomes suggests that decision fatigue set in as the sessions wore on.

The tedious nature of making decision after decision makes all of us, even those in prestigious positions, less efficient as the day progresses.

We may not be billionaires or judges, but we still make significant decisions hour after hour. Doesn’t it make sense to harness your finite energy for the decision-making that matters? Placing so much focus on planning, prepping, and affording three or four meals each day has the same effect as an app running in the background on your phone: It drains your battery.

And what happens if you’re deciding while hungry, overwhelmed, and depleted? If there’s one thing I know about human behavior and fatigue, it’s that tired people make terrible decisions about food. That’s exactly how you find yourself pulling through the drive-thru and scarfing down a greasy hamburger.

Intermittent fasting helps avoid decision fatigue by eliminating the need for food choices and meal preparation until lunch or dinnertime arrives. Imagine how many other impactful decisions you can make when you don’t have to obsess over those clean-eating recipes or calorie calculations.

Jen recently embraced intermittent fasting and was surprised by the freedom of having fewer choices.

“Fasting eliminates that one meal I have to worry about every day,” Jen says. “Before, I was so worried about breakfast, what I was going to eat, when I was going to eat it, meal prepping, how that was going to happen…. [Now] I just start with lunch and move on.”

Unlock Fasting Energy and Focus

One of the many benefits of intermittent fasting is unlocking fasting energy and focus. When your diet is high in simple carbohydrates like sugar, you’re more likely to experience sugar-induced brain fog and energy crashes. This can impact your mood and decrease focus.

But when you’re fasting, your body uses ketones for energy. Ketones come from the stored fat in your body and are the brain’s optimal form of fuel. They help you focus and think more clearly.

A psychological benefit of intermittent fasting is that when you resist short-term gratification (like having a big, sugary donut first thing in the morning) in favor of long-term health goals (delaying diabetes and heart disease as long as possible), you end up happier and healthier. And isn’t that what we’re all after?

Fasting and Metabolism

Some people try to argue that skipping meals slows down metabolism, causing you to hold on to body fat and gain weight over time. But the more we learn about intermittent fasting, the more we realize that isn’t true.

Intermittent fasting creates a boost in fat-burning hormones like norepinephrine and a drop in fat-storing hormones like insulin. When you fast, insulin levels fall, which facilitates fat burning. Norepinephrine breaks down fat cells into fatty acids, which the body and brain use for fuel.

A major benefit of fasting over calorie restriction is that it burns fat while helping retain muscle mass. Lean muscle is crucial for a high metabolism because it requires more energy to maintain, even when the body is at rest. So when you’re fasting, your body breaks down fat for fuel but leaves the muscle alone, leaving you strong and healthy.

Finding Your Fasting Rhythm

Jen practices what she preaches, which includes intermittent fasting four days a week. “My husband and I usually eat dinner no later than seven, so I will do my time-restricted window and eat my first meal between noon and 2 p.m. depending on how I’m feeling,” she explains.

“And then for one day out of the week, I try, and I don’t always get there, but I try to do a 24-hour fast.”

Though Jen doesn’t use intermittent fasting over the weekend, a restricted eating window during the week has already delivered encouraging results. She’s watched her body fat decrease, her cravings get wiped out, and her appetite reduce.

That’s the beauty of intermittent fasting: flexibility! There’s no right or wrong way to fast. The way Jen fasts doesn’t have to match the way you fast.

At its most basic level, time-restricted fasting can be whatever you need it to be, and it can be different every day. The longer you go without putting your body in a fed state, the faster you can chisel away fat, but the exact rhythm of your fasting is up to you.

“I’ve toyed with other forms of fasting and meal replacements that we’ve used in the past, but never really achieved this reduction in cravings to where I don’t go home and want to raid the refrigerator or cabinet and eat something unhealthy,” Jen says, explaining the noticeable difference intermittent fasting can make right away.

Time-restricted fasting has even helped Jen normalize her blood sugar. Before intermittent fasting, her hemoglobin A1C was creeping toward the pre-diabetic range, but now it’s steadily moving back into balance.

“For me personally, having done a lot of different diets in my past, it’s just been a game changer in a lot of different ways.”

A Guide to Beginning Your Own Weight Loss Journey

As you’re navigating your weight loss journey, ask yourself the same questions that Jen asks all of her patients before deciding which diet or method offers the best path forward.

First, identify your goals. Do you want to lose 30 pounds? Tone up with lean muscle? Regain your energy and drive? Maybe a combination of all three! Your goal sets you in the right direction.

Next, consider the “data” your body has to offer, including:

• Body fat
• Muscle mass
• Resting metabolic rate
• Hormone levels
• Thyroid function

These numbers matter because they influence your weight loss experience. For example, you could be doing everything right, but if you’re suffering the symptoms of thyroid dysfunction, you won’t achieve the progress you seek until your thyroid is properly treated.

It’s also important to consider your current and past experiences. What are you currently eating each day? Have you used methods in the past that worked well or left you feeling disappointed? All of these factors weave together to create your unique weight loss profile.

You might even need to unlearn certain rules and principles, especially that misleading adage that Breakfast is the most important meal of the day! Grape Nuts told us that, but we know now it’s most definitely not.

To put all of this together into a coherent and successful weight loss plan, it’s helpful to find a practitioner who appreciates and understands the many layers of weight loss and wellness. You don’t need someone to charge you $150 to only prescribe a 1,200-calorie low-carb diet.

How to Overcome Intermittent Fasting Fatigue

Intermittent fasting fatigue usually hits in the early days of your time-restricted fasting journey. If your body isn’t used to burning fat stores for energy (because it uses glucose from meals instead), it can take a while to get used to the new paradigm. A few healthy practices can help.

Drink Water

To decrease the effects of intermittent fasting fatigue, drink more water during your fasting window. Staying well-hydrated keeps your cells functioning properly while your body turns stored fat into energy. A good goal is to drink half your body weight in ounces of water. So if you weigh 150 pounds, try to drink 75 ounces of water throughout the day.

Keep a Food Diary

When you do eat, keep track of what and how much you eat, as well as how it makes you feel. If you feel your energy crashing after you break your fast, maybe you need to include more lean protein and fewer carbohydrates in that meal. You may also find that you aren’t eating enough during your non-fasting window. Being mindful of the food you eat can go far in helping you understand how food choices affect your mood and energy.

Sleep More

Your intermittent fasting fatigue could also just be your body telling you that you need more sleep. Adjusting to time-restricted fasting can be demanding on your body as it shifts to breaking down stored fat rather than burning glucose from a steady flow of meals and snacks. Make sure you’re giving your body time to rest and recover, and aim to get at least seven hours of sleep each night.

Compassionate Care in Action

Here at Brentwood MD, we care for some of the most amazing, successful, driven people. Yet the amount of overwhelm most of them feel is stunning.

The practice of medicine is an art, and every patient brings new colors to our experience. Jen shared a story of a patient who put incredible pressure on herself to fix every perceived fault and flaw at once.

“And I stopped her,” Jen recalls, “I said, ‘Hold on. We’re working on one thing at a time. The first thing we’re going to do is get you feeling better to where you want to do those other things. So let’s just correct your hormones, and then we’ll move on.’ And you could just see the weight of the world melt off her shoulders.”

Jen’s story highlights a thought I’ve been considering for a while. In a modern world, there’s nothing we can’t know if we have access to the web and curiosity. So if we’re struggling with breakthroughs and accomplishments, it’s not because we’re ignorant or lacking insight; it’s because we’re overwhelmed!

Jen offers some famous last words: “The question you have posed today, of not what you should be eating but when, is huge. It’s made a huge difference in my life. It makes a difference in my patients’ lives.”

With so much information at our fingertips, where can we find wisdom? Well, that’s the role of a strategic, compassionate physician and friend, and it’s the precise reason Brentwood MD exists.

The post Overwhelmed by Diet Options? How Intermittent Fasting Eliminates Decision Fatigue appeared first on Brentwood MD

Did you know that your body only has one mechanism to lower blood sugar, other than exercise?

Insulin.

But what happens when that one mechanism begins to fail?

In today’s blog, we’re going to unpack the concept of insulin resistance. I believe it is one of the most important and critical topics in all of medicine for the next 20 years.

In fact, I would go so far as to call optimizing blood sugar the holy grail of health.

To Be Diabetic Is to Be Insulin Resistant

Most people think you just wake up one day with diabetes. This is just not the case.

Diabetes is actually a continuum or spectrum. This means that you become diabetic over the course of five, ten, or fifteen years.

The spectrum begins with mild insulin resistance that progresses to a blood sugar of 126, or seven teaspoons of sugar in your bloodstream — just two teaspoons of sugar above a non-diabetic.

In order to understand insulin resistance, we first need to answer some critical questions.

What Is Blood Sugar?

Blood sugar is a mechanism by which we deliver fuel or energy to our body so that we achieve the primary goal of all living things, which is to stay alive.

Blood sugar is energy.

Why Is Sugar Such a Big Deal?

It’s a big deal because sugar is the simplest, most readily available form of energy that our body uses to keep us alive.

Once our blood sugar hits a level of 100, or five teaspoons of sugar, the body begins to store the rest as fuel for later. This accomplishes two things: It helps us to survive famines in the future, and it also gets sugar out of our bloodstream before the amount reaches seven teaspoons, which is the level of diabetes. So, your body avoids wasting sugar while skirting a diabetic blood sugar level in the process by pushing all that excess sugar into fat.

One intermediate step is all it takes to collect sugar and drive it into a fat cell. This is hugely important.

How Does Insulin Resistance Occur?

In order to answer that, we need to understand “normal” first. In other words, what does our body normally do by design in the presence of elevated blood sugar? When your blood sugar rises above 100, a signal is immediately sent to your pancreas to release the hormone insulin.

Insulin does two things — it lowers blood sugar by driving it into the cells, and it converts sugar into fat.

So as blood sugar normalizes, the insulin goes away entirely. Then you have this relationship in a normal scenario: sugar rises, insulin rises, sugar falls, then insulin falls.

This is normal.

Over time, as blood sugar remains elevated even in the presence of insulin, the body releases even more insulin to correct the high blood sugar, and then your blood sugar drops. But our body starts resisting insulin, which results in chronically elevated blood sugar.

The More Insulin Resistant You Become, the Higher Your Blood Sugar and Insulin Levels Become

This is the basic premise of insulin resistance.

But why is this a big deal?

Insulin resistance is a chronic progressive disease, which means if left alone, it not only doesn’t go away, it also gets worse. And eventually, our blood sugar becomes so elevated that we are diagnosed with diabetes.

This is how tightly our body controls blood sugar. It’s super important to be alive but we want no extra because we don’t want diabetes.

Diabetes Is a Progression of Insulin Resistance

You are profoundly insulin resistant with diabetes as opposed to mildly insulin resistant with pre-diabetes.

An out-of-control diabetic is also insulin resistant, they’re just out of control. They have an inability to respond to any level of insulin that their body is able to produce.

And what happens to those people when they go to the physician? What does your doctor put you on when your pancreas is working overtime and you can’t produce enough insulin to get that sugar down because your body is ignoring it?

You guessed it — MORE INSULIN.

The Effects of High Insulin Levels

Elevated insulin is a big deal because it does a number of horrific things.

1. High Levels of Insulin Make You Fat

Insulin is a fat-making hormone.

At high levels, it blocks you from ever being able to burn fat. Even if you are working out and sweating every day, if your insulin levels are still high, you won’t burn fat. If insulin is present, you are not burning fat; you’re making it.

You’ve got to normalize your blood sugar to lower insulin levels. If your body’s ignoring the only mechanism to get that blood sugar down, you’re going to be in trouble.

By adopting healthy lifestyle habits, including a diet for insulin resistance, moderate exercise, and improved sleep, you can reduce body fat and regulate insulin levels.

2. High Levels of Insulin Cause Cravings

Insulin triggers the craving center in your brain. Think about it — if insulin is related to blood sugar, what do you think insulin makes you crave? Sugary foods. Carbohydrates.

This is why people with diabetes are always hungry.

And don’t think that switching to diet soda and sugar-free candy and treats will help you beat this. Studies show that diet soda and sugar-free foods can actually increase cravings for sugar, resulting in weight gain — which exacerbates insulin resistance.

3. High Levels of Insulin Raise Bad Cholesterol and Triglycerides

The American College of Cardiology proposes that having diabetes is a risk equivalent to having established heart disease.

Insulin stimulates your liver to overproduce bad cholesterol, suppresses your good cholesterol, and increases your triglycerides.

When cholesterol accumulates in your bloodstream, it puts you at a much greater risk of developing heart plaques. Atherosclerosis, the hardening of arterial walls by plaques, develops. The plaques that harden can break loose and travel through the bloodstream.

This is a heart attack or stroke waiting to happen.

For more information on understanding cholesterol and how it impacts your health, check out this article.

4. High Levels of Insulin Increase Total Body Inflammation

Why does total body inflammation matter? Because inflammation is at the root of every disease known to mankind — arthritis, chronic pain, acid reflux, Alzheimer’s, dementia, stroke, and cancer.

The inflammatory process that takes place in the presence of elevated insulin is severe. When you’re in a state of constantly elevated insulin, you are chronically inflamed. Allergies, rashes, joint pains — it just never ends.

When you get control over your insulin and decrease total body inflammation, you improve your overall health, well-being, and longevity. This could literally add quality years to your life.

How Do You Know if You Have Insulin Resistance?

There are some early signs to look for.

1. Slow Rise in Blood Pressure

This is often due to the pro-inflammatory state. We start seeing increases in the blood pressure top number, the systolic, above 135. There may be no other symptoms, but this rise in blood pressure is suspicious, and it’s one of the earliest signs that we see.

2. Increased Belly Girth

Insulin deposits fat along the waistline. For men, waist measurements greater than 40 inches are at a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes. For women, that number is 35 inches. Keep in mind this is a guideline and for some people, that number could be less.

Increased belly circumference directly correlates with an increase in all causes of mortality, including heart disease and cancer.

3. Change in Cholesterol Numbers

Typically, we see bad cholesterol (LDL) go up, along with triglycerides. We also see good cholesterol (HDL) go down. These are all indicative of early insulin resistance.

4. Increased Fasting Blood Sugar

This is a later finding.

Fasting blood sugars begin to rise from 85 to 90, 90 to 95, 98, 105, and 109. Yet you’re still being told “Oh, don’t worry. You’re not diabetic.” Yeah, but 126 is diabetes!

This is a huge disconnect.

If You’ve Been Told You’re Borderline Diabetic, You’re Definitely Insulin Resistant

Some other warning signs that your insulin resistance is progressing are chronic fatigue, an increase in cholesterol levels that require statins, low thyroid levels, and low free testosterone levels (male and female).

The good news is that with changes in diet, exercise, and sleep habits, you can reverse these effects and decrease insulin resistance.

Conversations to Have With Your Physician About Insulin Resistance

1) Am I Insulin Resistant?

The first step to answering this question is to find a physician who knows what this means and how to diagnose it. Finding a physician who understands is everything.

Generally speaking, your physician needs to test you for those early indicators we talked about — cholesterol, blood pressure, and obesity.

• Have them check your total cholesterol panel to see if your bad cholesterol is elevated and your good cholesterol is low.
• Have them check your blood pressure to see if it is starting to rise — usually 135/80 or greater.
• Have them look for truncal obesity. In other words, you’re getting heavy around the belly.

These are all very, very telltale signs that insulin resistance is at play.

2) If I’m Insulin Resistant, How Do I Treat It?

There are really only a few ways to treat insulin resistance.

Diet — First and foremost, you need to make radical diet changes to avoid elevated blood sugar and elevated insulin.

Focus on cutting out sugary drinks like soda and sweetened tea or sugar in your coffee. Food and drinks that are high in sugar promote insulin resistance. Try to eliminate highly processed foods like snacks or convenience meals. If you eat a lot of fast food, try to cook at home more.

Focus on eating more fresh meats, fish, fruits, and vegetables. Not only are these lower in sugar than processed meals, they also contain important vitamins, minerals, and fiber that keep you healthy and help stabilize your blood sugar.

Changing your diet helps by minimizing or eliminating the things that raise your blood sugar. It also gives your body a chance to recover the mechanism God gave you — insulin — that your body has been ignoring.

You’ve got to fix your diet, but remember: the best diet for insulin resistance is the one that you stick with. Make sure it’s not a crash diet that will end up doing more harm than good. Change your habits and make sure your diet fits well with your lifestyle so that you are more likely to stick with it in the long run.

Exercise — The best way to lower your blood sugar is to not eat things that raise your blood sugar. But presupposing you find a way to consume something that raises your blood sugar, you’ve only got two ways to lower blood sugar — insulin and exercise.

Using your muscles to exercise consumes and burns free sugar and increases insulin sensitivity by reversing insulin resistance.

Remember, exercise should be implemented using the five phases of fitness that I discuss in our episode about exercise.

Sleep — Did you know that not getting enough sleep is a risk factor for developing diabetes?

Along with all the other problems that poor sleep hygiene can cause — irritability, depression, chronic fatigue, and heart disease, to name a few — you’re also at a higher risk of developing diabetes.

If you use wearable technology, track your sleep. Most people require at least seven hours of sleep per night. If you aren’t hitting that consistently, you need to focus on improving your sleep hygiene.

Make sure your room is dark, quiet, and cool. Don’t use screens for 30 minutes or more before bed and don’t eat any large meals for at least two hours before bedtime. If you have trouble falling asleep, try prayer or meditation to relax your mind and body.

3) I’m Diabetic and on Insulin — Should I Also Be on Metformin?

You may be asking this question if you’re curious whether you’re really attacking the root of diabetes, which is insulin resistance.

If diet and exercise aren’t enough, you may need medication. The drug of choice to treat insulin resistance is Metformin.

Metformin is a critical component of the diabetes medication regimen. If you are diabetic on insulin, you need to be on Metformin as well, unless you’ve got kidney disease.

Metformin works by increasing your body’s insulin sensitivity.

It is safe, and does not cause low blood sugar episodes. It may cause some GI upset in the first week or two of treatment, but that usually subsides.

It can be prescribed for anyone unless they have an allergy to it, or kidney disease.

I wouldn’t start with Metformin, but if diet and exercise are not yielding the outcomes that you want, adding medication may help.

If you’re on insulin, which your body is already ignoring, you’re giving your body way more than it needs. By simply adding Metformin, you will be able to reduce the amount of insulin that you’re exposing your body to, curbing the negative effects of that hyper-insulin state.

Listen, I hope you can see how passionate I am about this topic.

It’s a really big deal.

I hope you enjoyed this post on insulin resistance. If you don’t know if you’re insulin resistant, talk to your doctor about getting the recommended tests for it. And if you are insulin resistant, know that it can be reversed before it develops into diabetes.

The post Insulin Resistance appeared first on Brentwood MD

Recently on the podcast, Jen and I talked about perhaps one of the most frightening health-related topics on the planet: cancer. Cancer is the number two killer of human beings, second only to heart disease. In fact, approximately every minute someone in the United States dies from cancer.

The post Cancer Screening: The Old Way vs. the New Way appeared first on Brentwood MD

Heart disease is the number one killer of humans on the planet, and it has been for generations. In fact, every 36 seconds, someone in the United States dies from cardiovascular disease. On the podcast this month, Jen and I discuss a new way of approaching heart disease and some tactical steps you can take to address your risk factors.

The post Cardiovascular Update 2022: New Way vs. Old Way appeared first on Brentwood MD

This month on the podcast, Jen and I talk all about enemy #1: metabolic disease. If we want to improve the health and well-being of our society, metabolic disease is the single area in which we have to do a better job. Today we’ll talk about what metabolic disease is, why it happens, and five actionable ways to delay its onset.

The post Enemy #1 — Metabolic Disease appeared first on Brentwood MD

All science and research tell us that we must sleep. Without it, we die. It’s just as essential as water, food, and oxygen.

So why is it so easy for modern humans to neglect this critical part of our health? Why is it so undervalued and taken for granted?

As healthcare practitioners, Jen Justus and I have seen firsthand how devastating the effects of sleep deprivation can be. While we love to talk about positive momentum multipliers like strength training, we also need to discuss how poor quality sleep perpetuates profoundly negative momentum in people’s lives.

So buckle up, because this episode will illuminate once and for all why you can no longer afford to sleep on sleep.

The post Don’t Sleep on Sleep appeared first on Brentwood MD

In this month’s podcast, I exchange stories and wisdom with the one and only Jen Justus. We discuss not only our personal experiences with strength training but also the feeling of magic we get in doing difficult things.

In many ways, it really is like magic. You suffer through a grueling physical challenge that pushes you to your limit and, voilà, like a magician pulling the rabbit from a hat, you experience optimized physical and cognitive strength for the rest of the day and sleep better at night.

The post The Magic of Doing Difficult Things appeared first on Brentwood MD

For this month’s podcast, the always-brilliant Jen Justus joined me to discuss weight loss and why dieting is not the answer. Among other things, we agreed that weight loss is usually temporary when achieved through dieting.

Intermittent fasting, on the other hand, produces both short-term and long-term benefits by sustainably applying discipline in the right areas.

The post Freedom in Discipline: Why Dieting Is Not the Answer appeared first on Brentwood MD

The Momentum Multiplier turns goal-setting on its head so that you focus not on the goal as the destination, but on the journey. The celebration happens during the journey, as we notice our progress, honor who we become, and value the relationships we develop along the way.

The post The Momentum Multiplier appeared first on Brentwood MD

Peak mental health isn’t simply the opposite of mental illness. Peak mental health isn’t a static achievement but a dynamic journey of self-discovery.

In my ongoing conversations about this topic, I sat down again with clinical psychologist and minister Dr. Hooper to discuss peak mental health.

The post Peak Mental Health with Dr. Hooper appeared first on Brentwood MD

I sat down with male fertility and men’s health specialist Dr. Matthew Pollard to discuss some of the most important aspects of male infertility.

By bringing this subject to light, I hope you can gain a new perspective on infertility and clarity around the best next steps to take if you’re experiencing issues.

The post Male Fertility appeared first on Brentwood MD

If addiction is losing connection with your most authentic self to the grips of a perpetual, uncontrollable urge, then what is the opposite? And how do we claim that somebody has “recovered” from addiction?

The post Rethinking Addiction appeared first on Brentwood MD

By exploring the core elements of fulfillment, I hope to guide you down the path that offers the greatest opportunity to enjoy a fulfilled and successful life.

The post The Art of Fulfillment: Why Success Is Never Enough appeared first on Brentwood MD

Instead of using sex as clickbait, we need to address it just like any other health factor. Intimacy is part of a healthy romantic relationship, so discussing sex (and its challenges) should be just as natural as discussing your sleeping habits or exercise goals. Let’s begin to give your sex life after 40 more attention in the most authentic way possible.

The post Sex After 40 appeared first on Brentwood MD

Health multipliers for men are the moving sidewalks of your health journey. They exponentially increase the impact of your efforts, allowing you to embrace a life of longevity and vitality. Consider these three health multipliers together the silver bullet of driven men’s health.

The post Health Multipliers for Men appeared first on Brentwood MD

Regardless of your age, if you want to make a health comeback, then all you need to do is commit to positive changes in your life. It’s possible — and even easy! — to add 30 productive and vibrant years to your life. With the right health and lifestyle choices, 90 can be the new 60.

The post 3 Ways To Add Decades of Vibrant Living to Your Life appeared first on Brentwood MD

It’s completely possible to reclaim a better, more rewarding quality of life after 50! Whether you’re approaching the Big 5-0 or you’re already past it, this episode breaks down what you need to reclaim the vitality and joy that society says you should have already lost.

The post Making A Comeback After 50 appeared first on Brentwood MD

Long gone are the days of using only a scale to measure your health progress! In this episode, I’m diving into one of the hottest topics in all of health: wearable health technology. Learn how wearable health tech is changing everything we thought we knew about health tracking, data, and treatment and allowing us to make critical decisions about our health based on real-time data.

The post Hacking Your Health: A Guide to Wearable Health Tech for Modern Executives appeared first on Brentwood MD

I don’t often begin a medical discussion by contemplating philosophies, but we can’t separate the emotional experience of being a human from the practice of medicine.

This is exactly why I’m so excited to welcome back my dear friend, Dr. Brian Hooper, for another insightful discussion about the human mind and the path to wholeness.

As a clinical psychologist and minister, Dr. Hooper works with people of all religions and walks of life. He draws upon spiritual values, psychology, ministry to help his patients overcome challenges and achieve their goals. I couldn’t ask for a better partner than Dr. Hooper to launch into an exploration of regret and the journey to become your most authentic self.

My wonderful nurse practitioner, Jen Justus, and I recently discussed joy as the most underrated human emotion. Joy is also the opposite of regret, with the two on entirely different ends of the same spectrum.

I believe regret is the worst emotion a human being can experience. In more than 12 years as an ER doctor, I’ve witnessed lives riddled with unrest, pain, and suffering, and I’ve watched lives end the same way.

In contrast, my father and grandfather both modeled the most beautiful way to leave this planet with joy, satisfaction, and celebration. I’ve observed the stark differences between a life defined by regret and a life defined by joy.

Regardless of success, we all are bound to stumble over the emotion of regret. But we aren’t powerless to the claws of toxic regret. In fact, I am on a mission to help people strip down and identify the behaviors that create regret, then guide them to achieve joy instead.

What Is Regret?

Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar famously stated, “Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once.”

Translated for the 21st century, Shakespeare captured a powerful truth about regret. If you’re shackled with regret, you may die hundreds of little deaths throughout your life. Yet if you commit to a life of fulfillment and joy, you’ll die just one beautiful death.

So this begs the question: how does regret emerge?

A study performed at Cornell University in 2018 may hold the answer to that urgent question. According to study authors Thomas Gilovich and Shai Davidai, our most enduring regrets stem from the discrepancies between our actual selves, our “ought” selves, and our ideal selves.

The actual self is your real, present self. The “ought” self, on the other hand, includes the duties, obligations, and achievements you believe you should perform. For example, I ought to go to college, or I ought to workout more.

The ideal self is entirely different. As Dr. Hooper explains, the ideal self says, “What is my bliss that helps me be my most authentic self, that helps me feel truly alive, that helps me be the fullest version of myself while I’m in this world?”

Even though it’s one of the most commonly shared human experiences to regret specific mistakes and decisions throughout life, Gilovich’s research found that people are far more haunted by the unfulfilled ideal self.

“What haunts people is when they don’t live up to their ideal selves,” Dr. Hooper describes.

When Does Regret Become Toxic?

As with diabetes or heart disease or Alzheimer’s disease, regret exists on a spectrum. There’s simple, shallow regret – I wish I hadn’t ordered that sandwich for dinner! – that’s nothing more than a small bump in the road and quickly forgotten. Then there’s the regret of serious decisions made: arguments, lost job opportunities, ruined friendships, and financial hardship. These are potholes that can be repaired over time.

The life unlived creates a different, deeper form of regret that often becomes toxic. Regret isn’t just an emotion, it’s an awareness, a recognition of the road not taken. This tumbles into a dangerous cycle of shame, guilt, and disappointment. You may become fixated on that old road you did or didn’t take, rather than the paths still in front of you.

What does all of this really boil down to? At the core of toxic regret is a misalignment with your decision making and the pursuits that would truly bring you joy and fulfillment. Toxic regret takes control when you recognize the misalignment and repeatedly recognize your decisions aren’t congruent with your true self. A dangerous looping process begins and you trap yourself in negative thoughts: I’m worthless, I made all the wrong choices, this ruins everything, my life is over now. 

But luckily for us, Dr. Hooper is here to remind us that it’s never too late to overcome toxic regret. “If you’ve not lived up to your ideal self heretofore, that doesn’t mean all time is lost and you cannot go there. I’m a spiritually oriented psychotherapist so my joy is helping people have an ah-ha moment and gather themselves and get back on the journey, and they can do that at any age.”

5 Steps to Overcome the Regret In Your Life

You are on a journey to becoming your most vibrant version of yourself. We all are! But we don’t simply wake up one day and arrive. We’re all in the process of becoming who we want to be.

I love the way Dr. Hooper describes this: “We spend very little time stepping over thresholds. We spend the vast majority of our time going from one threshold to another.”

When leveraged properly, regret simply shows you what hasn’t worked in the past. Regret doesn’t mean you’re stuck with those disappointments forever.

Maya Angelou said it best: “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”

1. Avoid Idealizing Other Choices

The grass is always greener on the other side. It’s easy to dismiss this cliche, but it holds a universal truth. We always assume that the “other road” we failed to take would have been perfect and trouble-free. Romanticizing lost opportunity is a slippery slope; it’s much healthier to focus on the green grass under your feet.

2. Be Compassionate With Yourself

We all have compassion for others; for elderly adults who need assistance at the grocery store, for young children who crave affection, for our friends suffering unthinkable tragedies. But do we show ourselves the same authentic compassion?

Work to understand the reasons for the choices you made. Even if your choices weren’t perfect, show yourself grace.

3. Find Gratitude for What Is Good, True, and Beautiful in Your Life

Poor decisions or lost opportunities do not invalidate other aspects of your good character or the strong parts of your life. Keep a perspective of what you do have. Make a purposeful effort to extend gratitude to every corner of your life.

4. Forgive Yourself

“I believe in a God who forgives,” says Dr. Hooper. “So unless I’m smarter than that God, who am I to say I don’t deserve to be forgiven?”

Regardless of your spiritual or religious beliefs, forgiving yourself is absolutely vital to breaking the cycle of toxic regret. You can’t properly move forward and become your best self if you’re still punishing yourself for past mistakes.

5. Make Plans to Do Life Differently

One wrong turn doesn’t stop you from choosing the right turn up ahead. Think of a ten-hour road trip. You’re bound to miss a cue from your GPS once or twice, but you still make it back to the main road and reach your destination. So why should life be any different?

So don’t let your past wrong turns define your future direction. Even your language plays a role in this! Instead of saying, “I always do this…”, say, “Up until now I….”, or, “I have in the past done this… but now I’m learning to…”

It’s amazing how the simple subtleties of language can transform your mindset and empower you to embrace your fullest, most rewarding life.

How to Prevent Regret in the Future

If you really want to liberate yourself from the shackles of regret, you need to be like any good sports team: offensive and defensive.

On the defensive end, audit what you’re feeling. Notice your thoughts. Evaluate your emotions. When you feel a certain emotion, what is the thought process behind it, and is that thought true?

Then go on the offense. Take action or confirm, correct, or disprove your thinking. Imagine, if a certain thought wasn’t true, how your life could be different.

This defensive and offensive strategy embodies one of Dr. Hooper’s favorite mantras: “When I believe it, I behave toward it, and then I become it.” If you don’t take a defensive stance against your negative, toxic thoughts of regret you’ll always behave toward your regret and ultimately become it.

Of course, cleansing and clarifying your belief system doesn’t happen in an hour or a day. It’s not a simple process! In order for you to move in a different direction based on new beliefs, you have to undo old beliefs. And the problem with beliefs is that you believe they are true!

This is why the auditing process is so important. If you change your beliefs, you change your thinking… and you change your life.

Live Intentionally

Dr. Hooper so wisely reminds us that we need to be intentional about the life we want to live. It doesn’t happen by accident! The process is simpler than you might think:

Step #1: Imagine your goals day by day.

Step #2: Set concrete mini-goals to achieve them.

For example, if you want to begin each morning with meditation at 6:00 AM, and you value meditation for the depth it adds to your day, then set your alarm for 5:45 AM.

These small, intentional behavioral changes, performed over and over again, create incredible breakthroughs. Just like a marriage, your relationship with yourself is forged by an infinite number of tiny actions and communications.

Even very successful people experience struggles and regret. After all, we’re only human. These strategies can help point us in the right direction to tackle lingering issues and festering wounds.

Dr. Hooper’s final words encompass this message beautifully. “As you are struggling with regret, use it as an opportunity for your mind and heart to open to a whole new vista that’s really about connectedness to God, yourself, and the rest of creation.”

The post How to Break Free From the Toxic Effects of Regret appeared first on Brentwood MD

I’m excited to welcome back my dear friend, Dr. Brian Hooper, for another insightful discussion about the human mind and the path to wholeness. I couldn’t ask for a better partner to launch into an exploration of regret and the journey to become your most authentic self. Even very successful people experience struggles and regret. I hope these strategies can help point you in the right direction to tackle lingering issues and festering wounds.

The post How to Break Free From the Toxic Effects of Regret with Dr. Brian Hooper, LCPT appeared first on Brentwood MD

You can probably recite your daily schedule by heart. You know exactly what you’re supposed to do and exactly when each deadline is looming. But how often do you consider how you feel throughout the day?

Sure, you know when stress hits you like a wrecking ball. You know when exhaustion is too intense to mask with another cup of coffee. Yet there’s one emotion you may not immediately recognize, despite its pure simplicity.

It’s the most underrated emotion in the human experience: joy.

My partner in crime and beloved nurse practitioner Jen Justus has joined me to discuss the concept of joy and help us all uncover the sources of joy in our lives.

“It’s hard,” Jen explains. “Joy is not the same as a lot of the emotions that we connect to.” Even happiness isn’t really, truly, joy. Happiness is more of a catchall for “okay” or “alright.” The phenomenon of joy is completely unique and difficult to put into words.

Compared to passion, which begins with an intoxicating burn before it fades, or love, which is the most abused and diluted word in the English language, joy elicits an intangible feeling that you can sense in your gut even when you can’t define it.

But as Jen points out, so many of us have to stop and really ask ourselves: do I have things in my life that bring me joy? If so, what are they? And why, oh why, are they so elusive?

Why Is Joy So Important?

We can’t have a conversation about joy without also understanding its opposite: regret.

The power and significance of regret are intense. By contrast, joy is the ultimate emotion.

As an ER doctor and someone who has buried both his father and grandfather, I’ve come to understand that in the end, people don’t experience their lives all over again. Instead, they think about moments, and those moments are rooted in either joy or regret.

We all leave this earth one day, and the best way to depart is in a state of joy. I’ve been contemplating this, mulling it around in my head for quite some time, and it’s inspired me to seek out ways to find and create joy in my life and the lives of others.

Here’s what I’ve uncovered so far: joy isn’t just a feeling or emotion. It’s an accelerator of moments. Somehow it creates moments that are impactful and memorable. The more joy you can infuse into the rhythm and cadence of your life, the greater probability you will experience those wonderful moments.

And sometimes those moments have to be created. They don’t just happen on their own; you have to be intentional.

You can either wait for moments or you can create moments. This is a fundamental challenge I pose to everybody, myself included. Are you going to sit back and wait for moments to be gifted to you, or are you going to strategically create your joyful moments?

My hope for everyone – patients, friends, family, strangers – is that they navigate their lives in a way that achieves joy.

Why Is Joy So Elusive?

What brings you joy? Your job? Your spouse? Your hobbies? Your kids?

Maybe all of them, and maybe even more. So why is achieving joy difficult? When we take an honest audit of our lives, why does joy seem so elusive, like it’s always hiding just around the next corner?

Jen has her ideas: “In my opinion, it’s elusive because we’re rooted in busy-ness as a culture and as a society.”

As Jen explains, one of her patients with a high-paying corporate job was furloughed due to the coronavirus pandemic. “So she decided to pursue her passion in real estate full time. And now you can just see the joy on her face.”

The pandemic created an unprecedented opportunity to quiet the hustle of our normal routines, offering a valuable reminder that when we strip the commotion out of our lives, we can focus on what really lights our fires.

“Sometimes the busyness in our lives just robs us from our goals, our passions, and what we really want to do when it comes down to it,” explains Jen. “We don’t have time on our side!”

Don’t Wait to Find Your Joy

Joy rarely falls out of the sky and into your lap. It’s up to you to take an audit of your life and ask yourself: Where can I find more joy? What really brings me joy?

As Jen points out, those can be tough questions to ask. But the alternative – waiting – is much worse.

The first step is to obtain clarity: What is your goal? Are you devoting your efforts, energy, and creativity to a path leading closer to “The Goal” or away from it?

It’s easy to get comfortable with your routine, your habits, and your environment. But I’ve said it countless times: being comfortable can be dangerous! You risk becoming too complacent to push yourself closer to your goal.

Even though desperation is terrifying and uncomfortable, those moments of desperation force you to improvise, pursue risks, and transform your life. Just think of how many famous, successful people point back to a moment of sheer desperation in their lives and say, “That was my turning point! That was the moment I made a decision to pursue joy”

“Some people wait until retirement to do that,” Jen says. “They think, I’m just going to work, do my time.” And they hope that maybe one day, if they work hard and get lucky and wait long enough, they will eventually get to live their lives with joy.

Unfortunately, those people wake up on Day 1 in retirement with nothing to do and no other goals. They achieved what they thought was the goal, but discover quickly that it wasn’t fulfilling.

Simply put, waiting until retirement to live your life isn’t worth it. 

If you have a goal of living a long time and being filled with joy, then say goodbye to the idea of retirement. Find things that give you joy now and forever. Why wait to live your life? You’re not promised tomorrow.

Retirement isn’t “The Goal”. When tackled properly, it’s the gateway to even more joy. Jen has seen this first hand: “For a lot of people I know who are retired and don’t fall into that trap, they’re busier than ever because they find those things that bring them joy.”

The moral of the story? You can’t wait to start living. So don’t allow your busyness and lack of clarity to stop you from achieving joy in your life.

Growth Creates New Problems, and That’s Okay

Growth leads to improvement, which leads to joy and success. Many people mistakenly assume that improvement and success exist in a vacuum without new problems. They think they’ll reach a magical point in their lives without any stressors. Once I make six digits, or move into that neighborhood, or get my kids into this school district, or find a better job, I won’t be so stressed. 

But the truth is that growth always creates its own new messes. It can bring along even bigger problems. And that’s okay!

Every stage of life involves its unique challenges and celebrations. You shouldn’t stop pursuing growth merely to avoid new problems. Improving, evolving, and changing are the core elements of human nature.

The natural byproduct of success and growth is creating messes that need to be cleaned up. They’re our messes and our debts. Unfortunately, people don’t do a great job of cleaning up the messes or paying back their debts. They just add one more spinning plate to a wild juggling act until the pieces eventually start falling.

“We see this all the time with our business owners when they come to us and their health is their debt,” Jen reminds us. These successful entrepreneurs are perfect in everything else, but their health is in shambles. They’ve become a victim of their own success.

But there’s still time to achieve joy.

How to Find Joy in Your Life: A Simple Lesson

Jen and I have spent countless hours talking about this concept, enjoying the conversations, and sharing the message with our patients.

Finding joy is a beautiful thing to think about and an even more beautiful thing to figure out. This singular ability to infuse joy into your life is one of the most important gifts you can ever give yourself.

With more joy, you win. It’s as simple and complex as that.

You don’t need to overhaul your entire life to achieve joy. Start with these small steps to make a major impact:

1. Gain clarity. Get crystal clear on your priorities and goals. Why are you doing what you’re doing? Is it taking you closer or further away from the goal? If it’s taking you further away, then it needs to stop. Now.

2. Get better at paying back your successful debt. It sounds funny, but it’s a liberating concept. This takes away the guilt and shame of accumulating debt from being successful. Success creates challenges and opportunities. Clean up the messes caused by your growth to continually leave margin in your life to pursue joy.

“The phrase that comes to my mind is, ‘It’s a great problem to have, but it’s still a problem,’” laughs Jen. You will always have to solve problems, and the better you get at solving them, the more opportunities you have for joy. The more clarity and laser-focused problem solving you have, the more joy you can experience.

I firmly believe that finding ways to infuse joy into your life is one of the most impactful choices you can make. This could be as simple as giving yourself permission to start that backyard garden or take better care of your body or finally pull the cover off your classic car. You’ve been waiting for the perfect moment, right? It turns out that now is the perfect time.

With just a few quick wins, you gain momentum and remember that joy is intoxicating. This refines your skills at finding even more joy, day after day, year after year.

Jen offers her famous final words, which we should all heed: “Life is full of relationships and the most important relationship is with yourself. If you improve that, you will find more joy.”

The post The Most Underrated Human Emotion: How to Infuse Joy Into Your Daily Life appeared first on Brentwood MD

What brings you joy? Your job? Your spouse? Your hobbies? Your kids? Maybe all of them, and maybe even more. So why is achieving joy difficult? When we take an honest audit of our lives, why does joy seem so elusive, like it’s always hiding just around the next corner? Joy rarely falls out of the sky and into your lap. It’s up to you to take an audit of your life and ask yourself: Where can I find more joy? In this episode, Jen and I will show you how to do just that.

The post The Most Underrated Human Emotion appeared first on Brentwood MD

The coronavirus hit us like a suckerpunch. Now, after nearly three months of lockdowns, quarantines, and social distancing, we’re finally starting to emerge and capture bits and pieces of “normal” life.

But the trauma we experienced throughout the coronavirus pandemic can’t be erased overnight. A year ago, or even six months ago, nobody could have predicted that an infectious disease would bring the global economy to a screeching halt and cause the deaths of more than 400,000 people worldwide.

How exactly do we begin the recovery process after such a profound trauma? Or, for that matter, any type of trauma?

After working in the ER for more than 10 years, I’ve come to believe that recovery from trauma hinges on the strategies we use to survive and thrive. Whether you’re reading this in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis or suffering a personally traumatic experience after the pandemic subsides, the tips I’m about to share will prove timely and timeless.

Every traumatic event, big or small, triggers an unexpected shift in life. In the initial stages of trauma, survival is the sole priority. After a few weeks or months, the need for survival evolves into the quest for recovery.

With the help of my trusted nurse practitioner, Jennifer Justus, I’ve identified three core strategies that support successful recovery from trauma – like quarantining in the solitude of your house for 90 days!

Strategy #1: Stress Management

Stress is a unique concept because it’s so poorly understood. Most of us assume that taking control of our stress requires eliminating stress altogether, but that’s not the case. We actually need a certain amount of stress to survive, perform, and succeed.

Any kind of challenge to your center of balance triggers stress. Some of this imbalance, such as the rush of receiving a promotion or having a baby, is positive stress. It sends you off-balance in an exciting way that boosts adrenaline and energy. On the other hand, when a challenge to your homeostasis threatens to cause trouble or damage, negative stress surges.

The most successful people out there understand how to manage the stress they experience, rather than trying to squash it all together. They know their limits and how to transform their stress into something productive.

“Stress management to me is an acquired skill,” Jen acutely observes. “You have to constantly work on it.” Indeed, stress management is like a muscle that has to be flexed and strengthened continually.

Many different techniques can be used to take control of your stress, understand it, and harness it for success. But first, before anything else, you must choose your priority. You only have a finite amount of time and energy to devote each day. By identifying your North Star, your most important priority, you can reduce the burden of unnecessary stressors and achieve forward progress on what really matters.

So the question is, how can you identify your true priority? Use this simple yet powerful four-step process.

Audit Your Life For Friction

You’ve heard this advice before, but perhaps using different language. Self-help books encourage readers to find “things you don’t like” or “areas in which you underperform”. I use the term friction because it’s visceral. You can feel the friction in your life and identify its exact cause.

In most cases, friction develops when you lack clarity on a priority. Dig deeper into that source of friction and ask yourself: Is it real? Is it true? Does it matter? If yes, then is it a critical issue?

This type of honest investigation into your own mind may reveal that some of your biggest stressors are actually not real or not true. Perhaps they’re worries of events that may never occur or luxuries that can be put on the back burner. Imagine you’re trimming a tree, and each illegitimate source of stress is another tree branch that you trim away to clear your mind.

Once the trimming and pruning are done, you’re left with your legitimate priorities and sources of stress, the ones that deserve your time, attention, and resources.

Innovate, Eliminate, or Delegate

Now it’s time to develop a plan for each critical priority in your life. You can either delegate them to someone else, eliminate them altogether, or innovate your strategies to address them.

For example, learning how to work from home became an enormous priority for many American workers during the coronavirus shutdown. Most businesses chose to innovate with videoconferencing and other technologies to keep the wheels turning even from a distance.

Test Your New Strategy

Success occurs not just because of the implementation, but also because of the follow-up. It’s essential to test your new strategies for efficiency. How did your choice to eliminate, delegate, or innovate impact your critical priorities and sense of stress?

Re-Audit

Finally, re-audit for sources of friction in your life and note how they have (or haven’t) changed. If something is still causing friction, perhaps you need to dig deeper into the best solution. This process allows you to continue to protect your valuable stores of energy and maintain stress levels for optimal peak performance, minimal overwhelm, and more space to recapture creativity, playfulness, and joy.

Strategy #2: Fasting

Of all the content we have created on the Brentwood MD website, nothing compares to the amount of positive feedback we receive from our blogs and podcasts about intermittent fasting.

At its core, intermittent fasting creates an environment where the body allows you to get rid of fat. But for people who adopt fasting into their daily lives, it’s more than that: it’s freeing, liberating, and empowering.

Best of all, intermittent fasting is one of the easiest ways to recover from quarantine, especially if you’ve gained weight while stuck inside for weeks at a time, only a few steps away from your pantry, fridge, and freezer. This pandemic replaced the Freshman 20 with the COVID 19, but weight loss is difficult, especially when gyms are closed and life feels so off-balance.

Intermittent Fasting Improves Physiology and Psychology

Intermittent fasting simply reduces the number of hours each day that you spend eating. Rather than spreading your meals and snacks from 8:00 a.m to 10:00 p.m, you fast for 12, 14, or 16 hours and eat in the remaining 12, 10, or 8-hour window.

For example, if you finish dinner at 7:00 p.m and go to sleep, intermittent fasting can be achieved simply by skipping breakfast and waiting until 11:00 a.m to eat your first meal.

By focusing not just on what you eat, but on when you eat, you can improve your body’s physiology and psychology simultaneously. Physiologically, fasting enhances your liver, muscles, insulin sensitivity, and fat mobilization. Psychologically, fasting reduces decision fatigue and boosts your sense of well being.

Perhaps you’ve tried (and tried… and tried…) to achieve weight loss using calorie counting. This method has been pushed on us for the past 40 years, but it has a fatal flaw: calories come from at least three different sources of nutrition, all of which trigger unique hormonal and psychological responses. Since we don’t simply burn calories out of one “bucket”, it’s not enough to count calories and hope for weight loss.

When it comes to health and weight loss, nutrition and diet account for 80% of success or frustration, depending on your situation. If you really want to jump-start your weight loss journey as you recover from quarantine or any other trauma, fasting is the way to go.

Start slow as you adjust to the behavior changes required by intermittent fasting. Achieve a minimum of 12 hours without eating, which is as simple as finishing dinner by 8:00 p.m and waiting until 8:00 a.m to eat breakfast. As you become more comfortable with 12 hours of fasting, push yourself to 14 hours and eventually 16 hours.

Committing to this 16/8 intermittent fasting pattern, 7 days a week, is one of the simplest and most impactful things you can do for your health anytime, but especially during your quarantine recovery.

Strategy #3: Strength Training

After intermittent fasting, strength training is your second secret weapon for optimal health. Just keep in mind that no amount of exercise will undo a bad diet. Improve your diet first with intermittent fasting, then turn your attention to strength training.

When you begin performing strength training 3 to 4 days a week in conjunction with fasting, you’ll experience exponential change. The combined effects of fasting and strength training force your body to dig into your most stubborn visceral fat, the fat that no amount of diet and exercise have ever been able to address, and burn it away.

But don’t confuse strength training with running on the treadmill. Treadmill exercises, also known as static steady-state cardio, are wildly inefficient. Not only do they destroy your hips, knees, and ankles, but they don’t tap into the strength and resistance elements that are essential to build lean muscle and burn fat.

Use these three strategies to revolutionize your workout routine:

1. Fasted Workout: Exercise after at least 12 hours of fasting to tap into visceral fat for energy
2. Volume at Fatigue: Use weights and intensity that fatigue your muscles, then perform multiple repetitions in a fatigued state to mobilize fat stores, break muscle down and trigger optimal hormonal responses
3. Post Workout Recovery: Use the 30/30/30 strategy of 30 grams of protein and 30 grams of glucose (not fructose) within 30 minutes of exercise. This recovery strategy reloads your muscles with the energy they need to initiate the healing process and accelerate recovery. For example, 4 scrambled eggs and 1 sweet potato. This isn’t a meal – it’s a recovery tool.

Surviving and Thriving After Traumatic Events

I could talk for hours about the benefits of stress management, fasting, and strength training, but my core message is something that’s forever valuable: how to survive, recover, and thrive after a traumatic event.

We’re humans, which means we’re always at risk of our world being turned upside down in an instant. And though we can’t control global pandemics or job loss or the death of a loved one, we can control how we absorb the negative impacts of trauma and respond. Having a step-by-step plan to deploy in the face of trauma will never not be useful.

As you learn to manage your stress, optimize your eating habits, and intensify your physical activity, you put yourself in a position to actively pursue an optimal version of yourself. We don’t just want to survive. Ants survive. Rats survive. We’re human beings, so we want to thrive.

With strong psychology, sound diet, and strategic strength training, life can throw a curveball at you, and you’ll be prepared to respond successfully. Life will never be problem free, you just need the tool belt to navigate those challenges.

The post Recovering from Quarantine: 3 Ways to Respond to a Traumatic Event appeared first on Brentwood MD

Every traumatic event, big or small, triggers an unexpected shift in life. In this episode, my nurse practitioner, Jennifer Justus, and I identify three core strategies that support successful recovery from a traumatic event – like quarantining in the solitude of your house for 90 days!

The post Recovering from Quarantine appeared first on Brentwood MD

You visit your dentist every six months to prevent cavities and gum disease; you head into your hairdresser every few months to maintain your appearance; and you schedule an annual physical with your doctor to… what?

For most people, an annual physical exam is a generic requirement that lacks a valuable purpose. You’re told to make the yearly appointment, so you do, but how does it really help to improve your health and vitality?

Unfortunately, if you’re a patient in our country’s traditional healthcare system, it probably doesn’t. You spend five minutes with a doctor you barely know to rush through an obligatory checklist that doesn’t actually change, improve, or address the trajectory of your health.

America’s healthcare system isn’t designed to help us achieve optimal health and wellness, which is exactly why so many executives and entrepreneurs are turning to concierge practices instead. In the world of concierge medicine, we empower patients by performing comprehensive executive physical exams.

Standard Annual Exams Vs Executive Physical Exams

A standard annual exam is compromised by one major factor: time. The average primary care practice is optimized for speed and volume. A physician must see 30, 40, even 50 patients a day to generate revenue.

Insurance companies hold all of the power in our standard healthcare system, so they dictate how patients and doctors interact, which treatments doctors can provide, how much money doctors make, and ultimately, the quality of health care patients receive.

Most adults have only ever experienced a standard annual exam. They don’t even know another option exists. But it does!

Executive physical exams are fundamentally different from standard physical exams. They’re not driven by the time on the clock or the threats of an insurance company. Instead, they’re designed to deliver results with a customized, hands-on approach.

Executive annual physicals give patients the unique and invaluable opportunity to communicate with a doctor who comprehensively exams their health and develops an active strategy for improved wellness.

How Brentwood MD Performs Executive Physicals

With the help of my talented nurse practitioner, Jen Justus, Brentwood MD has been performing and perfecting the art of the executive physical for many years. I asked Jen to identify the elements of our executive physicals that create the most impact for patients.

Dive Deep Into Patient Goals

We have always been committed to building a practice on depth, not width. During an executive physical exam, we take the time – as much time as needed! – to delve into every patient’s unique health and wellness goals.

We don’t merely collect vital signs, run tests, and say goodbye. Instead, we talk. We ask questions, listen, and dig into the details to understand two critical pieces of the puzzle:

• Where are you now?
• Where do you want to go?

It’s like using a map at the mall. You know you want to get to Nordstrom, so you check the map for guidance. First you find the location of Nordstrom, your destination. But knowing that destination doesn’t mean much until you find the “You Are Here” star on the map. Now you know exactly where you’re starting, the path you need to take, and your ultimate endpoint.

Our executive physicals are designed to help patients honestly audit where they’re starting on their health journey, what goals they want to reach, and how they can get there.

As Jen explains, “I hear from a lot of our patients that, ‘nobody’s ever spent this much time getting to know me and caring about what I care about most.’”

Develop Trust

Receiving health care is an intimate experience. In any situation where you expose your vulnerabilities, fears, and hopes, trust is essential. But how can doctors and patients possibly build deep trust in a single six-minute exam once a year?

It takes time to cultivate trust, which is exactly why our executive physicals take time. Your health is the most important asset you have, so why does our country’s healthcare system force us to manage that asset with a doctor we barely get the chance to know or trust?

At Brentwood MD, we use executive physicals as a launchpad to create deep, trusting, rewarding relationships. By learning your lifestyle, personal challenges, and future goals, we become your health and wellness copilot. You can tackle health problems and optimize your wellness with a friend and advocate by your side.

“I love when they leave our office looking better emotionally than when they arrive,” Jen shares. “I think it’s because we position ourselves as their trusted advisor.”

Create a Strategic Plan

All of the testing and examining in the world is worthless without a strategic plan for improvement. Our executive physical exam lends itself to creating this type of strategic plan by prioritizing your most important goals.

Every Brentwood MD patient walks out of his annual executive physical with a clear, actionable, strategic plan to improve his health. Then every six to 12 months we revisit and reassess:

• What’s going well?
• What’s not working?
• Are you experiencing new challenges?
• What victories have you enjoyed?

By closely evaluating the results, we can determine if and how a patient’s strategy should be augmented. More than anything, we never stop hunting for the potential hidden threats to a patient’s health. The better we can predict and prevent health threats, the better we can optimize quality of life.

The Ultimate Goals of an Annual Physical Exam

In our upside-down healthcare culture, it’s easy to feel like the ultimate goal of a physical exam is merely to fulfill the obligation. But the truth is that every annual exam serves four critical purposes.

1. Achieve the Holy Grail of Health

If you’ve ever spent five minutes with me, you know my number one passion: optimizing blood sugar. There is nothing else that delivers a better return on your investment for improved health than balancing your blood sugar. Which is exactly why I call it the Holy Grail of Health.

When blood sugar levels surge out of control and trigger type 2 diabetes, the consequences become worse with every passing day. Uncontrolled blood sugar levels lead to a hyper-insulin state which in turn makes the body more vulnerable to a number of complications:

• Obesity
• Cancer
• Heart attack and stroke
• Metabolic conditions
• Nerve damage
• Vision problems that lead to blindness
• Teeth and gum infections
• Kidney damage
• Poor blood flow
• Slow and inefficient wound healing

An executive physical gives your doctor a yearly opportunity to evaluate your blood sugar, identify warning signs, and create a strategic plan to balance and optimize blood sugar levels.

“Knocking out any question about blood sugar and whether that’s an issue has to be number one,” Jen reminds us. Considering that diabetes fuels nearly every common cause of death in the U.S., from heart attack and stroke to cancer and Alzheimer’s, it must be the first priority in any executive physical.

2. Control Risk Factors

Every executive physical exam also provides a valuable opportunity to control risk factors for your health.

Modifiable risk factors pose threats but are relatively easy to adjust. With the guidance of your doctor, you can implement simple lifestyle and dietary changes that reduce the impact of modifiable risk factors, including:

• Tobacco Use
• Alcohol consumption
• Lack of exercise
• High stress
• Inflammatory diet

Other risk factors, including age, gender, and genetic profile, can’t be changed or modified. So it’s critical to effectively manage them instead. An executive physical exam provides the opportunity to hunt for warning signs and act accordingly.

3. Measure Outcomes

How can you possibly succeed on your journey to better health without specific measurements? There are many ways to evaluate progress, and an executive physical is the perfect time to identify those measurements:

• Body fat vs lean muscle
• Frequency of intermittent fasting
• Blood sugar levels over time
• Dietary changes

And so many more! When your doctor is also your health and wellness advocate, he can provide the insight and follow-through needed to make sure the benefits of your executive physical don’t end when you walk out of the door.

4. Adjust Strategies As Needed

Health care isn’t a static responsibility. Repeating the same strategies every day, every year, for your entire life won’t result in optimal health. Life ebbs and flows in seasons, with some of those seasons allowing you to go on offense and others forcing you onto defense.

It’s essential to partner with a physician who thoroughly understands your health situation and takes the time to help you adjust your strategies over time. In a season of offense, you might begin hormone optimization therapy, tackle weight loss, or use new stress management techniques. In a season of defense, it might take every ounce of your energy just to maintain your weight and avoid an ulcer.

The bottom line? If your health isn’t as good as you want it to be, you need a better plan.

A 5-Step Framework For Health Optimization

If you’re not sure how to bring your journey to better health, this 5-step framework provides a strategic starting point.

1. Stop Smoking

If you have any ambition to live a longer and more vibrant life, you need to quit smoking immediately. There’s no debate about it- smoking is the single largest preventable cause of death in the United States and on the planet.

When you stop poisoning your body with the 7,000 chemicals found in cigarettes, you can expect the following benefits:

• Reduce risk of heart attack after one year
• Reduce risk of stroke after two to five years
• Cut risk of mouth, throat, and esophageal cancer in half within five years
• Cut risk of lung cancer in half after ten years
• Reduce respiratory symptoms like coughing and wheezing

So if you currently smoke, tackle that habit with a death star laser beam. Every bit of energy and commitment you have should be completely dedicated to quitting smoking until that goal is finally achieved.

2. Optimize Blood Sugar, Lipids, Visceral Fat, Lean Mass

These factors are all intimately interconnected as extensions of the Holy Grail of Health. Uncontrolled blood sugar fuels the flames of diabetes, which is the gateway disease to all metabolic and obesogenic diseases. What begins as sleep apnea and hypertension accelerates in a dangerous domino effect to stroke, heart disease, or early death.

By making the Holy Grail a priority, you don’t just optimize your blood sugar, you reap benefits you can see and feel:

• Decrease visceral fat
• Reduce lipid levels
• Build healthy lean mass
• Gain more energy

Other than quitting smoking, optimizing your blood sugar is the most powerful decision you can make for your body, health, and quality of life.

3. Audit Alcohol Intake

Just like life, drinking has seasons as well. Take an honest audit of your alcohol intake to identify whether it’s compromising your health goals.

When things are going well and you’re not struggling to overcome a serious health issue, you may be able to endure a few more drinks a week. But if you’re going on the offense to achieve a specific goal, alcohol may make it harder to achieve your goals. Weight loss, for example, is far more challenging with two drinks a night than two drinks a month.

4. Master Stress Management

Stress management isn’t about the elimination of stress. In fact, it’s impossible to escape stress; as you move through life, new sources of stress will always appear. So stress management is about learning how to recalibrate your internal stress “smoke alarm” and thrive even in the midst of stress.

Although stress can’t be measured on a scale or captured on an MRI, your physician can help you implement stress management techniques as you work to improve your health.

5. Seek Joy

I can’t believe the simplicity and power of this message, and I’m always stunned to see just how disconnected we’ve become from the idea of joy.

I have the pleasure of taking care of awe-inspiring people. It’s a very emotional experience when I get to tell them, “Hey man, maybe you should pick up the guitar and just play something.” Giving people permission to make joy a priority in their lives is something that truly brings me joy.

When is the last time you did something without any agenda, strictly because it made you happy? Where in your life can you infuse joy?

Maybe it’s time to take the tarp off the ’65 Chevy or get your hands in the soil and plant some flowers. Maybe you need to knit, or write music, or read (for pleasure!), or drive to the beach and put your toes in the sand, just because it makes you happy.

Successful, high-powered, mission-oriented people often struggle to do this, but we all need to pursue joy in whatever form we can find it.

Ask yourself: Where in your life can you infuse joy just because it makes you happy, nothing more and nothing less?

The post Executive Physicals 101: An Annual Exam For Optimal Performance appeared first on Brentwood MD

One of the most common questions I receive from patients is: What exactly is an executive physical? To understand executive-level physicals, we need to reframe what you already know about the typical annual exam. In this episode, Jen and I discuss the key components that make these two types of exams unique and the 5-step framework we use with our executive physical clients.

The post Executive Physicals 101 appeared first on Brentwood MD

It’s time to talk about cholesterol, but not in the way you’re expecting.

Let’s start with the “facts” you’ve been taught to believe. Do these sound familiar?

Don’t eat foods that are high in cholesterol – they’ll kill you!

As long as your total cholesterol level is low, you’re safe. 

Those high-fat foods will give you a heart attack. 

After nearly 100 hours of deep research, I’ve uncovered a remarkable, devastating truth: our widely understood “facts” about cholesterol aren’t facts at all.

Which is exactly why I’m here with Jen Justus, my talented Nurse Practitioner and partner in crime, to help you understand the most important information about cholesterol that even your doctor may not know.

Though the biochemistry of cholesterol is complex, you don’t need to understand the technicalities in order to appreciate the bigger picture and take essential steps to improve your own health.

As always, Jen explains it best: “You can get really lost in all of the technicality and biochemistry of cholesterol, but what we’re intending to do today is to deliver it in a way that’s very easily understood and give you action steps: What do I need to do to make sure I’m taking every precaution I can to prevent this killer of humans?”

How to Understand Your Cholesterol Health

We all know that cholesterol plays a role in cardiovascular health and disease, but how, exactly? Even the professionals can’t always agree. Is it evil? Insignificant? Beneficial? There’s no one simple answer.

We have to understand cholesterol on a spectrum because its role in the body is so complex. Cholesterol is essential for life because it enables the body to build the structure of cell membranes, make hormones, and support metabolism. But cholesterol also plays a key role in the development of cardiovascular disease. As a result, cholesterol is highly debated, and most of the people who matter have it wrong.

“That’s a bold statement,” Jen reminds me. But I pride myself on taking the time to dig miles deep into topics that matter. Cardiovascular disease is one such topic that I’m continually trying to understand, and I can’t possibly do that without cracking the code on cholesterol.

To me, the scariest part was realizing that the data I uncovered wasn’t new. Some of it has been around for a decade, but it hasn’t been incorporated into medical texts yet. Critical pieces of science have unfolded over the last ten years, and most doctors are missing them!

Jen echoes my thoughts: “The standard medical community is behind when it comes to understanding and applying data to how we manage patients day to day – it’s concerning.”

When incidences of heart attack and stroke cause 1 in 4 deaths in America annually, and cholesterol plays a role in underlying cardiovascular disease, we have a critical responsibility to understand how the puzzle pieces fit together.

The Real Effects of Dietary Cholesterol

Cholesterol is a waxy, fat-like substance. Your body naturally makes all of the cholesterol it needs to perform essential functions like producing hormones and vitamin D. However, most of us still receive a secondary supply of cholesterol in our diets from animal sources. Eggs, meat, and dairy all contain dietary cholesterol.

When patients are diagnosed with high cholesterol, they’re told to eliminate dietary cholesterol immediately. These people suffer and panic for months, avoiding scrambled eggs and yogurt for fear of a heart attack. And when they return for their next round of testing, their cholesterol levels may still be sky-high.

That’s because, contrary to popular belief, dietary cholesterol has little to zero impact on your total cholesterol.

Fear of Fat: Should You Be Scared?

The debate over cholesterol quickly leads to another controversy: fat. I remember in the mid-1980s when fat became Public Enemy #1 virtually overnight. More than 30 years later, this myth still prevails.

Jen recalls that the low-fat fad influenced her family’s perception of food and health as well. “I grew up in a low-fat, high-carb household. I remember my mom saying, ‘You’re eating an avocado, do you know how many calories and fat are in that?’ and I would say, ‘But it’s good for me!’”

As Jen explains, there’s still a stigma around fat because people believe it automatically causes high cholesterol and obesity. Since the underlying thought process is logical, this false narrative has been able to survive so long. Yet it’s completely wrong.

The bottom line? Fat does not make you fat – excess blood sugar does. It’s not even debatable.

Parts of a Standard Lipid Panel

A cholesterol test is performed with a standard lipid panel. This blood test measures the amount of cholesterol in your blood using the following benchmarks:

• Total cholesterol
• High-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol concentration
• Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol concentration
• Triglycerides

This sounds simple and straight-forward, but in my research I’ve discovered that the information revealed in a lipid panel alone is not enough to confirm the presence or risk of cardiovascular disease.

The Real Meaning of HDL and LDL Cholesterol

Cholesterol molecules can only travel through the body when packaged inside of lipoproteins. This means that lipoproteins function as a shuttle to transport fatty substances throughout the extracellular water of your body and into cells and tissues.

Lipoproteins fall into many categories, but it’s the cholesterol-rich apolipoprotein B (apoB) that matters. About 98% of all apoB lipoproteins are low-density. In other words, they’re LDL cholesterol, the form that gets deposited into peripheral tissues and causes health problems. You can think of apoB as a cholesterol “delivery truck”.

Apolipoprotein A-1 (apoA-1) lipoproteins, on the other hand, support high-density (HDL) cholesterol. These “dump trucks” clean up and recycle cholesterol while nourishing cells and tissues with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. The more HDL cholesterol you have naturally in your system, the better.

This is why it’s tempting to call LDL the “bad” cholesterol and HDL the “good” cholesterol, but these misnomers don’t paint the whole picture. While it’s helpful to know your LDL and HDL concentration numbers, they lack insight into the overall behavior of cholesterol within your body.

The Most Important Information You Need From a Lipid Panel

Despite overwhelming evidence from years of research, a standard lipid panel doesn’t provide the most critical information needed to predict cardiovascular risk. A lipid panel provides the concentration of LDL and HDL in the blood, but it’s not concentration that matters; it’s particle number.

In other words, the weight of LDL and HDL cholesterol particles doesn’t matter nearly as much as their quantity.

This explains why a vegan with a very low LDL concentration can appear healthy, then suddenly suffer a heart attack. If his doctor didn’t test his apoB particle numbers, nobody would have realized his risk of heart disease.

How Does This Relate to Atherosclerosis?

Arteries are blood vessels that feed oxygen-rich blood to tissue. Atherosclerosis develops when those arteries narrow and close off due to cholesterol-based plaque. This condition begins when apoB penetrates an artery’s protective lining and stays there. The presence of apoB in the endothelium triggers an immune response with inflammation and swelling, which creates even more space for apoB to accumulate. After enough time passes, this creates a cholesterol core of plaque in the arteries.

As plaque grows, it matures, calcifies, and hardens. The older plaque becomes, the more prone it is to rupture and travel into the bloodstream like a boulder in a river. Dislodged plaque blocks blood flow and eventually causes heart attack, stroke, tissue death, and other deadly complications.

This is so important to understand because the LDL concentration tested in a standard lipid panel is not reliably predictive of atherosclerosis. The apoB particles are the real culprit! More particles cause more damage.

When you only know your LDL concentration, you can only guess your risk of cardiovascular disease. When you’re armed with your apoB particle number, however, you can know your real risk.

Identifying Concordance and Discordance

When testing reveals a patient’s LDL concentration and apoB numbers are both similar or the same, concordance exists. On the other hand, when LDL concentration and apoB numbers not similar, discordance exists.

Discordance makes LDL concentration data unreliable, so it should signal a profound red flag to medical professionals. “This is very scary to me,” Jen admits. “The percentage of people who have a normal LDL concentration but a high apoB signaling red flags is one in four. It’s putting them at risk, and their doctor might miss it.”

Take, for example, the vegan with a low LDL concentration. At first glance, the vegan appears healthy. His LDL cholesterol levels are low, and he doesn’t eat any sources of dietary cholesterol that could potentially increase the amount of cholesterol in his blood. But if his doctor remains unaware of his dangerously high apoB particle numbers, the vegan’s true risk of cardiac disease won’t be revealed until he suffers a heart attack.

Concordance and discordance matter for everyone, not just vegans. Of all healthy adults who don’t smoke or have an underlying metabolic condition, 22% have discordance in their numbers. This means that one in four of all healthy adults are likely to believe they’re not at risk of cardiovascular disease because doctors will miss the red flags in their lipid panels.

The numbers are even worse for the remainder of adults, most of whom have diabetes, pre-diabetes, and undiagnosed diabetes. They have a rate of 63% discordance. Only with a complete understanding of cholesterol and testing can doctors and patients work together to identify discordance and act on it accordingly.

7 Simple Ways to Improve Your Cholesterol Health

I can’t overstate how important this topic is, but you don’t need to understand the technicalities to take action for your own health. By following these seven steps, you can improve your cholesterol health and optimize your wellness.

Step 1: Normalize Your Blood Sugar

“We can’t talk about this enough! It’s the holy grail,” Jen so accurately reminds us. You must normalize your blood sugar. Period. If you don’t take control of your blood sugar, you’ll develop diabetes, the gateway to nearly every Western disease, from obesity to Alzheimer’s.

Step 2: Know Your Numbers

Learning all of your numbers – blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, triglycerides – is like ripping off a Band-Aid. You don’t know the condition of your body until you get to the other side. When it comes to cholesterol, give special attention to these numbers:

• LDL particle number (apoB)
• Hemoglobin A1C
• Ratio of triglycerides to HDL (TG:HDL)

Step 3: Improve Modifiable Risk Factors

Modifiable risk factors threaten your heart health but are relatively easy to adjust. With proper lifestyle and dietary changes, you can reduce the impact of the following modifiable risk factors:

• Tobacco Use
• Alcohol consumption
• Lack of exercise
• High stress
• Inflammatory diet

Every additional risk factor makes it more difficult to escape the avalanche of cardiovascular disease, and every risk factor you eliminate makes it easier to improve your health.

Step 4: Manage Non-Modifiable Risk Factors

Certain heart disease risk factors can’t be changed or modified. They exist whether you like it or not, including:

• Age
• Gender
• Genetic profile

Since you can’t change these risk factors, it’s critical to manage them instead. Watch for warning signs and take actions that minimize your health risks and protect your body, such as preventative screenings.

Step 5: Find the Right Provider

Health is more than just the absence of disease – it’s the ability to thrive and live an active life. If your doctor isn’t committed to that shared goal, you may not be receiving the best care.

Your health is your most valuable asset, and you deserve a provider who will serve as a steward and trusted adviser. A real doctor-patient relationship cultivates compassion, trust, empathy, and communication.

Step 6: Never Stop Learning

Education is the most powerful tool at your disposal, and thanks to the internet it’s easier than ever to educate yourself. Find voices that you trust and continue to learn about the factors that influence your body, your life, and your happiness.

Step 7: Never Stop Hunting

Diseases don’t always stand in the open, wearing bright yellow and shouting your name. You have to hunt for them, find them, and control them before they have the chance to control you.

This is why I couldn’t possibly say this with more conviction:

Go to your doctor and tell them, “I need to know my apoB  and/or LDL particle numbers.”

Without those numbers, you don’t really know your risk of heart disease at all.

Don’t let the technicalities of cholesterol scare you. If you want to understand it, you can, but at the end of the day, the most powerful way to protect your body is to take action. 

The post Understanding Your Cholesterol Health: Risk Factors, Essential Numbers, And What Your Doctor May Be Missing appeared first on Brentwood MD

Heart attacks are the number one killer among people, and yet, so little is understood about a main factor of cardiovascular disease — cholesterol. In fact, most people are confused about what cholesterol actually means in terms of your overall health. Join my talented partner, Jen Justus, and I as we dispel the myth around fats making you fat, what cholesterol numbers you should be looking at but aren’t, and the seven steps you can take to regain control of your cholesterol health.

The post Understanding Your Cholesterol Health appeared first on Brentwood MD

Have you ever felt completely overwhelmed by the sheer amount of decisions you have to make in a single day? You’re not alone. My trusted partner and Nurse Practitioner, Jen Justus, returns to the show to break down the real impact decision fatigue is having on your life, the three restrictions levers you can manage your health with and the one life change that will eliminate the majority of your decisions.

The post How Intermittent Fasting Eliminates Decision Fatigue appeared first on Brentwood MD

The majority of women approach resistance training with hesitancy or downright skepticism. Which is exactly why Brandi Binkley is joining me in this episode – to discuss the compelling reasons that women should lift weights! As a veteran in the exercise and wellness industry, Brandi understands weight training inside and out. If you’re curious about why women should lift weights or you’re ready to launch into a new strength and conditioning workout routine, Brandi is the trainer you want in your corner.

The post Why Women Should Lift Weights: A Discussion with Brandi Binkley appeared first on Brentwood MD

Life is risky by nature, but we have the power to make choices that reduce those risks.

You can choose to go skydiving… or not.

You can choose to wear your seatbelt… or not.

And you can choose to get in-tune with your heart and health… or not.

Heart disease isn’t an invisible threat that only happens to 60-year-old men who smoke two packs a day. One in of four deaths is the result of heart disease. That’s one death every 37 seconds.

A dear friend of mine, Dr. Furrukh Malik, has joined me to explore the many layers of heart health and disease. As an invasive cardiologist with specialized training in advanced heart failure and transplantation, Dr. Malik offers valuable insights that may help us understand the real secrets to longevity.

What Does ‘Good Heart Health’ Really Mean?

‘Good heart health’ isn’t a complicated notion. In its simplest form, good heart health means maintaining clean, open blood vessels that support strong, steady circulation.

Think of blood vessels as pipes for all the blood flowing to and from the heart. The pipes must stay open and unobstructed so that blood can quickly deliver oxygen and nutrients to tissues. After which, they transport waste products away.

Good heart health is all too easy to compromise. Just like a bathroom sink becomes clogged with hair, calcium buildup, and toothpaste grime, the pipes of the circulatory system also become blocked from a variety of factors. As those blockages grow, your heart health suffers.

Developing heart disease isn’t like breaking your leg, where your body is healthy one second and debilitated the next. Heart disease brews slowly inside the body, year after year, until symptoms become impossible to ignore.

As Dr. Malik explains, metabolic diseases, inflammatory foods, smoking, and other lifestyle habits all contribute to the development of internal and external inflammation. This double whammy of inflammation attacks blood vessel “pipes” from both directions to lay the foundation for heart disease.

I Have a Family History of Heart Disease: Am I Doomed?

There’s no one linear path to heart disease, even with a strong family history. Your chances of developing heart disease hinge not just on your vulnerability to the most prevalent heart disease risk factors, but also on how you address and mitigate those risk factors.

Dr. Malik organizes heart disease risk factors into two categories: non-modifiable and modifiable.

Non-Modifiable Risk Factors

Certain heart disease risk factors can’t be changed or modified. They exist, whether you like it or not. Non-modifiable risk factors include:

• Age
• Gender
• Genetic profile

These risk factors can’t be switched overnight. Instead, any medical action must carefully take non-modifiable risk factors into consideration.

Modifiable Risk Factors

Modifiable risk factors threaten your heart health but are relatively easy to adjust. With proper lifestyle and dietary changes, you can reduce the impact of the following modifiable risk factors:

• Tobacco Use
• Alcohol consumption
• Lack of exercise
• High stress
• Inflammatory diet
• Developing Diabetes or Hypertension

You can think of heart disease risk factors like layers of an avalanche. Increasing age is always a risk factor, but every additional risk factor makes it more difficult to escape the avalanche of heart disease.

“If you add, say, high blood pressure, the disease progression will increase,” Dr. Malik explains. “If you become diabetic, the disease progression increases further. If you start smoking and consuming a lot of alcohol and fat-rich foods from animal sources, then you’re adding inflammatory components that will speed up the disease further.”

Since your age, gender, and genetic profile are set in stone, it’s up to you to take control of modifiable risk factors and decrease your risk of heart disease as much as possible.

Cardiac Issues Earlier in Life

Historically, we’ve assumed that heart disease only threatens adults who are obese or elderly, but now we’re seeing adults in their thirties and forties developing symptoms of heart disease.

According to Dr. Malik, our methods of food preparation are largely to blame. Our American paradigm of eating has shifted dramatically since the 1950s. Rather than eating small, whole food meals two or three times a day, people, especially children, are often snacking continuously.

“There is a high indulgence of very high carbohydrate-rich foods at a younger age, with a very high proportion of sugar in the food,” Dr. Malik says.

To make matters worse, foods are processed and altered to prolong shelf life, which results in significant metabolic abnormalities.

Dr. Malik expands on the implications of our society’s dietary changes: “My gut feeling is that heart disease is more progressive and apparent earlier because whatever we are putting in our body in the form of high carbohydrate, high processed foods with significant inflammatory components have resulted in an exaggerated expression of disease in a young population.”

Unfortunately, it’s not just adults at risk. I’ve observed a stunning increase in pediatric obesity rates during my time studying obesity.  Compared to the number of children diagnosed with obesity 50 years ago, the rate today has more than tripled!

How is such a dramatic, dangerous change possible? It’s a response to the perfect storm of societal changes including:

• Mass agriculture
• Shift to high fructose corn syrup
• Aggressive marketing of highly processed carbohydrates
• Prevalence of fast food
• Focus on video games and social media instead of physical movement

I’ll never forget the words of a cardiologist during my residency who said it won’t be long before pediatricians will need to start screening children for risk factors of heart disease.

The Seven Variables of Heart Disease Risk

Given all of this information, what are the implications of heart disease for you? Consider the seven most influential variable of heart disease risk:

1. Age
2. Gender
3. Smoking History
4. Family History
5. Blood Sugar
6. Blood Pressure
7. Cholesterol

These seven variables spell out your risk of heart disease over the next ten years. Though you can’t change your age or gender, you can take active steps to improve your blood sugar, cholesterol, and blood pressure to reduce your risk of heart disease.

If you take the 10-year heart risk test and find that your risk is 7.5% or higher over the next decade, the time to take action is now. Recalculate your risk every one to two years so that you know exactly where you stand, Dr. Malik advises, especially if you have a family history of heart disease.

The Best Diagnostic Tools for Heart Disease

Though the growing rate of heart disease is discouraging, we at least have the benefits of advanced diagnostic tools on our side.

For men and women who are concerned about developing heart disease but haven’t yet experienced serious symptoms, Dr. Malik begins with a risk profile assessment. This type of assessment evaluates cholesterol, hypertension, and diabetes to calculate the risk of heart disease. Dr. Malik uses this information to calculate the patient’s 10-year risk of heart disease or stroke using the Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease (ASCVD) algorithm.

The results of the 10-year risk assessment determine the next best diagnostic steps:

• If a patient’s 10-year risk of heart disease is less than 2%, no further testing is needed. He should adjust modifiable risk factors and manage non-modifiable risk factors to stay as healthy as possible.
• If a patient’s 10-year risk of heart disease falls between 2% and 5%, Dr. Malik recommends non-invasive tests like the calcium cardiac score or carotid ultrasound. These tests for early blockages may indicate further testing is needed.

A calcium cardiac score, which is a low intensity CAT scan of the chest, identifies calcium deposits in the coronary circulation of the heart. Since the coronary arteries supply oxygen-rich blood to the heart, growing blockages pose serious threats to cardiovascular health. The higher a patient’s calcium cardiac score, the higher their risk of a cardiac event:

• Score of Zero: No plaque, low risk of heart attack
• 1-10: A small amount of plaque that equals a less than 10% change of heart disease
• 11-100: Mild heart disease with an increased risk of heart attack and disease
• 101-400: Serious blockages and high risk of heart disease
• 400+: Near-complete blockages and urgent need for heart disease treatment like stenting

Once it’s established that a critical blockage has developed, Dr. Malik uses a cardiac stress test to evaluate circulation patterns. Depending on the results of the stress test, further testing or treatment may be recommended, including a heart catheterization, cardiac CT scan, or cardiac MRI.

Take Control of Your Heart Health Today

The key to taking control of your heart health is to identify and improve heart disease risk factors that are within your power to modify. Ask yourself, what can I do to protect myself and prolong my life?

If living a long, vibrant life is your goal, it’s essential you start to eliminate behaviors and habits that contribute to heart disease. Without taking action, progressive, chronic, debilitating heart disease becomes inevitable.

Prevent Diabetes

Take control of your blood sugar levels to reduce the threat of diabetes. A consistently heavy carbohydrate intake spikes your blood sugar and forces more insulin into your system. Your body eventually adjusts to this excessive flow of insulin as it attempts to process and transport such high blood sugar. This insulin resistance can quickly morph into diabetes.

Start by replacing carbohydrates, refined sugars, and processed foods with lean proteins, vegetables, and nuts. Then swap soda, juice, and other sugary beverages with water. It won’t take long to see results!

Know Your Cholesterol and Blood Pressure Stats

You can’t improve or control something you don’t understand. Rip off the band-aid and become informed about your cholesterol and blood pressure numbers, so you can make the necessary changes.

HDL and LDL

HDL cholesterol is the “good” cholesterol known for its ability to keep “bad” LDL cholesterol under control. It acts like a garbage collector by picking up cholesterol from the walls of the arteries and transporting it for disposal in the liver. With a healthy HDL level of 60 mg/dL or above, your body will also benefit from HDL duties like shielding free radicals, reducing inflammation, and preserving artery function.

Low-density lipoproteins are known as LDL cholesterol or “bad” cholesterol. LDL builds up on the walls of your arteries like plaque, leaving less space for blood to flow through. This is why high LDL cholesterol is considered a major heart disease risk factor.  An ideal LDL cholesterol level is <100 mg/dL, while a “borderline” level ranges between 130 and 159 mg/dL. Anything above 160 mg/dL is a huge, undeniable red flag for heart disease!

Blood Pressure

Blood pressure is recorded with two numbers. If either number rises above “normal” levels, your risk of heart disease increases significantly.

The first number shows systolic blood pressure, which indicates the pressure your blood exerts against artery walls when the heart beats. This number should be less than 120 mm Hg. The second number shows diastolic blood pressure, which identifies the pressure blood exerts against artery walls when the heart rests between beats. It should be less than 80 mm Hg.

Get Back to the Basics

More than anything else, Dr. Malik encourages all of his patients to get back to the basics of eating plant-based foods and exercising regularly. These two simple changes can combat the biggest causes of modifiable heart disease risk factors and reduce the impact of non-modifiable risk factors.

As Dr. Malik reminds us: “We need to set an example for our children, because they are watching us.”

What type of heart and health legacy will we leave for younger generations?

Dr. Malik has dedicated his career to helping his patients address their heart disease risk factors and lead healthier lives. You can learn more about Dr. Malik’s cardiovascular expertise and his guidance for patients at all stages of heart disease. 

The post How to Take Control of Your Heart Health for a Long and Vibrant Life appeared first on Brentwood MD

Why does cardiac disease seem to be showing up earlier and more significantly than it has historically? And what can you do to reduce your risk of heart disease? In this episode, Invasive Cardiologist, Dr. Furrukh Malik, addresses the state of cardiac health in America, how to access cardiac risk and stress and the steps you can take towards optimal heart health,

The post How to Take Control of Your Heart Health with Dr. Furrukh Malik, MD appeared first on Brentwood MD

Continuing the conversation from our most popular episode to date, fitness coach, Zane Griggs dives into his best practices for those who want the hows of intermittent fasting. From cheat days to your morning coffee routine, you’ll learn the ins and outs of successful fasting and how to tailor it to your life and schedule.

The post Fasting 2.0: A Quick-Start Guide to Intermittent Fasting with Zane Griggs appeared first on Brentwood MD

When it comes to improving your health as a man, your first stop may be your general practictioner or cardiologist with a urologist as your last stop. But what if I told you that urological problems such as BPH and erectile dysfunction could be symptoms of something more serious like diabetes or heart disease? Dr. Benjamin Dehner, Chief of Urology at St. Thomas West in Nashville, joins the show for an indepth look at the benefits of owning your urological health, how to catch the warning signs of a deeper issue and advancements in early diagnosis for prostate cancer.

The post Why Urological Health is Vital for Every Man with Dr. Benjamin Dehner, MD appeared first on Brentwood MD

Is our healthcare system working for us, or is it keeping us trapped in a cycle of illness? Diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular disease account for 70% of deaths in our country, yet it’s easier to get medication to treat conditions than it is to prevent and reverse them! In the backwards mentality of our current medical culture, we treat disease instead of stopping it.

Chiropractic care represents the exception to this rule with its focus on holistic self healing. A dear friend of mine, Dr. Ronson Dykstra, has joined me to do what traditional physicians and doctors of chiropractic rarely have the opportunity to do: discuss the candid potential of chiropractic care.

Dr. Dykstra has been practicing chiropractic for 16 years in Franklin, Tennessee. His deep passion for prevention and self healing has helped Dr. Dykstra touch and transform the lives of his patients.

So why is only 10% of the population taking advantage of chiropractic care and its many benefits? Dr. Dykstra helps us breakdown the role of chiropractic in our current medical system and identify why it has become so misunderstood.

The Origins of Chiropractic Care

Dr. Dykstra is passionate and committed to the practice of chiropractic care, but this wasn’t a path he always meant to take.

“As a kid, I grew up in the traditional model of healthcare. I really never understood what chiropractic was. I didn’t know anything about it.”

After exploring a nomination to the Naval Academy and considering a career as an engineer, Dr. Dykstra returned home to help his father deal with back-related health issues.

He accompanied his father to chiropractor appointments and, as Dr. Dykstra explains, “I watched my dad start to have freedom from these old injuries that he’d been battling for years and years and years. And I thought it was the neatest thing.”

Witnessing his own father’s success with chiropractic care ignited a fire inside of Dr. Dykstra to help others the same way. He ultimately attended Palmer College in Devonport, Iowa, where the entire profession of chiropractic care originated in 1895.

Shortly before the turn of the 20th century, a janitor asked Dr. Daniel David Palmer to adjust his back after an injury. With just one single adjustment to a misplaced vertebra in the upper back, Dr. Palmer relieved the janitor’s back pain and restored hearing, which the janitor had lost 17 years before.

“It’s almost one of those stories where you’re like, come on, this isn’t a real story!” Dr. Dykstra jokes.

But the story is indeed true, and it marks the beginning of chiropractic care as we know it today.

Chiropractic Work Vs Standard Care

Dr. Daniel David Palmer knew that chiropractic techniques had been used for thousands of years, but they were never formalized with scientific proof. This inspired him to establish the Palmer College of Chiropractic in 1897.

Palmer applied his comprehensive knowledge of physiology and anatomy to the art and science of chiropractic care. His new college gave Palmer a platform to share his findings with others.

By 1913, the first state law licensing chiropractors was passed. Palmer’s son eventually leveraged his father’s talents to shape the profession of chiropractic in the early 20th century. He spread word to the masses, bought marketing time on radio, and generated a loyal following.

Chiropractic patients appreciated the benefits of their treatments, but chiropractors still weren’t considered legitimate doctors by the rest of the medical community. The practice of chiropractic couldn’t shake its reputation as a “fringe” alternative, a problem that still persists today.

Unlike standard medical practices that have one right answer, chiropractic is open for interpretation. The 70,000 active chiropractors practicing in the United States today may treat the same patient with 70,000 unique approaches.

“In chiropractic, there’s so many different ways of doing it. As a result, everybody has an opinion and everybody has a different method. There’s over 300 different techniques!” Dr. Dykstra explains.

In fact, there’s not even one single unified organization for chiropractic professionals. Some chiropractors gravitate to the American Chiropractic Association, while others prefer the International Chiropractors Association.

The chiropractors that practice in the United States today are required to pass numerous national board exams and hold a state license, but they still approach their 35 million patients with a diverse range of treatment protocols and perspectives. This sets chiropractic work apart from standard care in a way that some patients appreciate and others view with skepticism.

I know many highly successful chiropractors who are doing incredible work, and their following is so loyal that it’s nearly evangelical. But for every one chiropractor enjoying so much success, there’s a dozen or more struggling to reach new patients, even those moving towards virtual healthcare.

Could the “rogue” origins and fragmented practices of chiropractic care be the underlying reasons that chiropractic care is underutilized and underrated?

The Three T’s: Toxins, Traumas and Thoughts

We know that chiropractors bring a wide range of unique perspectives to the table, so let’s work backwards to find the unifying osteopathic philosophy of chiropractic.

More than anything else, chiropractic is founded in the belief that the body is a self healing being.

Chiropractors believe the body is able to thrive when it’s free from interference. However, we all walk face first into sources of interference every single day. Interference may come in the form of toxins, traumas, or negative thoughts.

Any time that an interference effects the body, a subluxation develops. Taken literally, this means your body emits less light. A subluxation, such as a structural displacement of a joint or vertebrae, creates a disconnect between your body and brain.

Subluxations gradually diminish your body’s health and power. You can’t operate at 100% of your potential when your systems are slowly going haywire. Chiropractic is designed to remove the interferences and subluxations caused by the “Three T’s”. This could involve anything from shifting the spine to manipulating a joint.

Once the interference is resolved, the body has the opportunity to initiate its self-healing processes once again and function at a higher level. The holistic nature of chiropractic means that every single patient is different. The same adjustments cause different reactions in different patients.

How Do You React to the Check Engine Light?

Your health exists on a spectrum.

As Dr. Dykstra explains, “You’re either moving toward an optimization of health or you’re moving toward the lack of health.”

Where you fall on that spectrum is directly correlated to whether you take a proactive or reactive approach to your health.

Dr. Dykstra uses the analogy of a check engine oil light. If you’re driving and your check engine oil light suddenly comes on, how do you react? There are three possible scenarios:

1. As soon as you see the check engine light, you immediately pull over for an oil change
2. You keep driving and plan on addressing the check engine light later
3. You cover the check engine light with tape and pretend the problem doesn’t exist

What if that check engine light signaled the condition of your health, not your car? The longer you ignore it, the worse the complications become.

There’s a fourth option to the analogy above, the option that chiropractic care makes possible: proactively maintain your health so that your check engine light never has to turn on.

Your check engine light doesn’t turn on randomly or without warning. It simply calls your attention to the repairs that are needed to address the wear and tear of the past 3,000 or 6,000 miles.

As Dr. Dykstra emphasizes, “I firmly believe in prevention, I believe in it for me and I believe in it for my family. I don’t wait for the check engine light to come on.”

Core Damage and Collateral Damage

Chiropractic care takes an entirely different approach to healthcare by distinguishing between core damage and collateral damage. It’s so much more than taking a few prescribed pills or ignoring symptoms until they subside!

Chiropractic takes the old adage, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” and throws it out the window. The practice of chiropractic care hinges on prevention to enhance the body before problems exist.

As a chiropractor, Dr. Dykstra is committed to uncovering the core damage that has caused symptoms of collateral damage. Back pain, for example, is collateral damage. It’s a chiropractor’s job to uncover the deeply rooted core factors responsible for that back pain. Is it poor posture? Excess weight? Stress and anxiety?

Once the core damage is uncovered, chiropractic care helps patients change their processes and behaviors to reduce core damage and resolve collateral damage. As a result, chiropractic is more than a few random appointments for back adjustments. Chiropractic is a holistic belief system that takes preventative action to protect and enhance your overall health.

Metrics That Matter

Are you ready to explore chiropractic care? Dr. Dykstra offers his recommendations to help you utilize chiropractic to make a positive, lasting impact on your health.

Cultivate a Relationship With Your Doctor

This is where it all starts, Dr. Dykstra explains.

“As you’re meeting with a doctor and you’re starting to unpack potentially what’s occurring inside of your body… do you feel you’re being heard? Do you feel like this person understands what’s going on?”

Above all, does your chiropractor’s approach resonate with you? Does his outlook match yours?

Dr. Dykstra, for example, uses a 12-point examination to assess every patient in his practice. This evaluation includes everything from muscular and neurological function to x-rays. He also works directly with his patients to understand their lifestyle habits, frame of mind, and future goals.

Dr. Dykstra combines all of this information to build a health score and profile that guides his treatment protocols. It’s all about developing a game plan to correct, rebuild, and optimize.

Get Ready; You Have to Do Some Work As Well

To truly benefit from chiropractic, it’s essential to commit to doing the work. You can’t reach your health and wellness goals without working toward better lifestyle habits and meeting the goals set by your chiropractor.

It’s easy to find a doctor with a prescription pad and a pen, but that only has the same effect as covering your check engine light with tape. If you’re looking for a doctor to give you the “easy” way out, chiropractic might not be the right match.

Break Your Goals Into Bite-Size Pieces

Chiropractic care isn’t designed as a Hail Mary to fix your biggest problems. It’s meant to prescribe small steps that help you move gradually to better health. You might have debilitating pain now, but with regular chiropractic care you can reduce your pain until you’re pain-free.

This doesn’t happen all at once because it takes time to heal the core damage that triggered your collateral symptoms!

Chiropractic Care For a Healthier Life

If there’s one thing Dr. Dykstra wishes people knew about chiropractic, it’s clarifying the misconception that chiropractic care is only meant to address acute injuries or musculoskeletal pain.

“Chiropractic, for me, is firmly rooted in health and care of the human frame in the human body. And for me, it’s not just about mitigating pain,” he explains.

Dr. Dykstra gives the powerful example of a baby with colic. He can remove the interference in the baby’s system, which gives the baby’s body the power to fight colic and reduce symptoms. This doesn’t mean that, as a chiropractor, Dr. Dykstra healed colic. Instead, he restored the body’s full potential to adapt and heal at its own speed.

Don’t buy into our current health care system’s habit of only fixing a problem when it becomes too painful to ignore. Chiropractic care makes prevention easy, accessible, and rewarding. With effective personalized care, your check engine light never has to come on!

To find out more about Dr. Dykstra, check out his website or visit his team at Mission Health Center in Franklin, Tennessee.

The post Healing the Whole Self: A Candid Conversation About Chiropractic Care appeared first on Brentwood MD

Despite what some in the medical field would have us believe, it’s no secret by now that the body functions as one organism, and prevention doesn’t happen in a vaccuum. That’s why Dr. Ronson Dykstra, DC, is joining the show for a conversation about the benefits of chiropractic medicine when it comes to whole health, misconceptions around chiropractic work and the power of the body as a self-healer.

The post A Candid Conversation About Chiropractic Care with Dr. Ronson Dykstra, DC appeared first on Brentwood MD

It’s no secret that testosterone plays an integral role in male health — from libido and muscle mass to fertility. We’ve all heard commercials for “Low-T” treatments promising to restore male vitality.

Testosterone replacement therapy can transform a man’s health, but we’ve greatly overlooked the influence of testosterone on female health.

Since testosterone has gained such a strong reputation as a “man’s hormone”, the effects of low testosterone on a woman’s health are frequently dismissed. This has caused too much unnecessary suffering in women with low or suboptimal testosterone levels.

My talented partner, Nurse Practitioner Jen Justus, and I are ready to set the record straight. The truth is, testosterone is just as important for women as it is for men. However, few women realize that testosterone therapy could be the answer to their unexplained symptoms — like weight gain and fatigue.

By clearly defining the relationship between testosterone and female health, I hope we can help women like yourself blaze a path toward enhanced wellness with the help of testosterone therapy.

Testosterone For Women’s Health

Testosterone is best known as an essential male sex hormone, but it’s more nuanced than its reputation suggests.

A woman’s ovaries and adrenal glands produce about 20 times less testosterone than a man’s testes. Yet from bone health to fertility, testosterone influences female health just as much as estrogen and progesterone. It’s the preconceived notions about testosterone that lead most of us to fear testosterone therapy for women rather than embrace it.

“For me personally,” Jenn explains, “I was a little scared to use testosterone because I thought, as a woman, I’m going to grow a beard, I’m going to take on these masculine traits.”

Jen’s definitely not alone. We talk to women every day who don’t trust the use of testosterone, usually for one of these three reasons:

• Fear of becoming “manly” with a deep voice, more hair, and buff muscles
• Incorrect association between the type of testosterone used in illegal steroids and natural hormone therapy
• Misinformation from health care providers who have strong but potentially misleading opinions about testosterone therapy

The truth is that testosterone works intricately with other hormones in the female body to create a strong and powerful core infrastructure. The benefits of testosterone aren’t merely frills like decor and artwork; they’re the foundation and frame of the body you call home.

Symptoms of Testosterone Imbalance in Women

The symptoms of testosterone imbalance in women are very similar to the symptoms observed in men, just less pronounced:

• Lost libido and sexual desire
• Depression
• Fatigue
• Muscle weakness
• Weight gain
• Hair loss
• Slowed collagen production

These symptoms are difficult to ignore, but fortunately, they’re no longer difficult to treat.

Immediate Benefits of Testosterone Therapy For Women

By supporting the underlying infrastructure of your body, testosterone therapy for women has the ability to deliver immediate benefits. Many of our female patients report experiencing revitalization in as little as 24 hours!

Even Jen herself, once hesitant to embrace testosterone therapy, noticed immediate improvements.

As she tells it, “I remember texting you the next day and I said, ‘When am I supposed to start feeling this… because I feel amazing!”

Skin and Hair

Optimized testosterone levels have the power to improve the quality of your skin and hair.

The body’s natural collagen synthesis diminishes with age, leaving wrinkles and sagging skin in its place. Testosterone therapy helps to counteract this effect by supporting the “behind the scenes” functions the body needs to efficiently produce collagen.

As a result, you may find that testosterone therapy reduces the appearance of wrinkles and helps your skin look bright and youthful.

Similarly, testosterone therapy for women can improve hair regrowth by thickening hair at the follicle to prevent it from falling out. Testosterone and thyroid hormones work in concert to stimulate hair growth from existing hair follicles that have been unresponsive in the past.

Keep in mind that this won’t make you hairy like a gorilla; testosterone therapy can’t create new hair follicles or make you what you’re not. Instead, testosterone therapy makes you more of what you are and what you used to be!

The only exception occurs with women who have androgenetic alopecia, a genetic condition that makes the hair follicles sensitive to androgens like testosterone. If you have this androgen-sensitive condition, you may need to work with your doctor to find a medication that blocks androgens from having a toxic effect on your hair follicles.

Mood With Energy

Do you wake up feeling like you just don’t have enough energy in the tank to push through your day? Are you moody, verging on depression, and generally “blue”? These issues aren’t just in your head or meant to be solved by an antidepressant.

Instead, they may be the symptoms of testosterone deficiency.

Balancing your testosterone levels with bioidentical hormone therapy quickly lifts the veil of brain fog, depression, and fatigue. You suddenly remember what it’s like to embrace your life with passion and vitality instead of just treading water.

The Role of Testosterone in Menopause

From the time that they hit puberty until they approach menopause, women experience the same steady hormone production. It isn’t until the earliest stages of menopause, known as perimenopause, that a woman’s hormone levels begin to fluctuate.

Perimenopausal women can enjoy all the benefits of testosterone therapy. From energy stamina and fat burning to libido and skin health, customized testosterone therapy delivers benefits that help perimenopausal women overcome the signs that their ovaries are slowly shutting down.

Testosterone therapy is equally as valuable for post-menopausal women whose ovaries have completely shut down. In fact, the benefits are even more pronounced because testosterone helps the body restore hormonal balance.

There are just a few times when testosterone therapy isn’t the best solution, including for women who are pregnant, could become pregnant, or aren’t done having children.

Other Major Benefits of Testosterone Therapy

Aside from the immediate benefits of enhanced skin, hair, mood, and energy, testosterone therapy for women also plays a vital role in overall health and longevity.

Connection Between Insulin and Testosterone

The Holy Grail of health is having optimal blood sugar levels. Biochemically, the hormone insulin is the body’s best mechanism to lower and normalize blood sugar.

In an ideal situation, insulin arrives in response to high blood sugar and quickly normalizes blood sugar by transporting glucose as energy to cells throughout the body.

However, when our eating habits continually keep our blood sugar levels elevated, more and more insulin pumps into our system in response. Over time, the body begins to ignore insulin and create dangerous insulin resistance that leads to chronically elevated blood sugars and diabetes.

Finding mechanisms to help the body become more sensitive to insulin is critical to prevent disease. Testosterone therapy is one such mechanism! It helps women become more insulin sensitive by creating muscle cells that are hyper-responsive to insulin in the presence of glucose.

Once you take control of your blood sugar, everything else is possible!

Testosterone and Osteoporosis

The link between testosterone and osteoporosis is one of the most underrated connections in the human body.

Nearly 80% of adults with osteoporosis in America are women. This condition is far more serious than most people realize. The likelihood of a woman breaking her hip is as high as her risk of ovarian, uterine, and breast cancer combined!

So why aren’t we talking more about osteoporosis and its potential treatment using hormone replacement therapy?

In its simplest form, osteoporosis is a condition of brittle bones. If you have osteoporosis, your bones have lost critical mass and density, leaving you vulnerable to fractures and breaks. Imagine a home with a weak foundation and cracking frame. That’s the effect of osteoporosis on your body.

We need to keep our infrastructure as strong as possible. Exercise, sun exposure, vitamin D, strength training, calcium, and even estrogen all improve bone health, but testosterone and osteoporosis share a special link.

Testosterone replacement therapy is a powerful and untapped osteoporosis treatment. Research suggests that testosterone supports bone cells and skeletal growth, possibly beyond the effects of estrogen alone.

This means testosterone therapy offers important long-term bone health benefits for women as they age!

The Role of Testosterone Therapy and Sex Drive

Testosterone is widely associated with male sex drive, but it influences female libido as well! Jen explains that she talks to many women who say: “You know, I love my husband, we have a great relationship…. But I just don’t have that desire.”

These patients are upset about the stress placed on their relationships by a lack of intimacy, but they don’t know how to recapture their desire. Testosterone therapy quickly turns this issue around by restoring the hormones that enable sexual desire.

Protecting Against Heart Disease

Cardiovascular disease isn’t just the number one killer of human beings. It’s the leading cause of death in women. Heart disease used to be seen as the disease of 60-year-old smoking men, but that’s a dangerous misconception.

As a woman, you need to reduce your risk of heart disease to live a long and vibrant life. Research proves that balancing hormones with testosterone therapy can protect themselves against cardiovascular risk factors.

Why is testosterone such a powerful force against heart disease? My medical experience and intuition tell me that testosterone creates a snowball effect of momentum by restoring insulin sensitivity, lean mass, strong bones, and high energy levels. When you have a strong core, plenty of energy, and balanced blood sugar levels, your body is better prepared to overcome any threats to longevity.

Who is Testosterone Therapy Not For?

We’d be irresponsible not to discuss the groups of women who need to avoid testosterone therapy or carefully discuss hormone replacement therapy with their doctors before proceeding.

Women in the following categories should not receive testosterone therapy at all:

• Pregnant – testosterone is toxic to the fetus
• Planning to get pregnant soon – testosterone can cause severe birth defects
• Currently breastfeeding – testosterone may suppress lactation
• Treating active cancer – all of your energy and resources need to focus on eliminating cancer from your body

There are also gray areas that require deep discussion before committing to testosterone therapy. Most importantly, the gray area of having a family history of an inheritable, hormone-sensitive cancer.

Don’t cannonball right into the pool; wait to understand your risk profile and discuss the potential risks and benefits with the professionals best equipped to determine the impact of testosterone therapy on your health.

As long as you are thoughtful about testosterone therapy, account for all potential downsides, and understand your path forward, you can experience the benefits. Life is all about mitigating risks and maximizing the upside!

Embrace a Holistic Approach to Hormone Replacement Therapy

Don’t take your symptoms lightly. Whether you’re chronically fatigued or unusually moody, testosterone deficiency could be at the core of your misery.

Give your symptoms the attention they deserve by finding a provider who will listen to you. Really listen to you, not just nod, smile, and rush you out the door in 10 minutes.

Advocate for your health and wellness by requesting comprehensive testosterone tests. Your provider needs to assess your free testosterone and total testosterone to gain a full picture of your hormone levels. Free testosterone is the active testosterone your body uses to perform, so it’s the most important level to optimize.

But don’t just settle for a testosterone test. Get all of your levels checked, including your thyroid levels.

Hormones don’t exist in a vacuum. The many hormones in your body work in a complex matrix of interconnectivity to optimize your health; you can’t just improve one and ignore the others. Even a quick tweak here or there can generate powerful, synergistic downstream results.

Not everybody needs or wants to pursue bioidentical hormone therapy, but do your research, dig into the studies, and find someone you trust to help you make this decision. You don’t have to continue suffering because you’re not sure where to turn.

The answers are out there, and practices like Brentwood MD are here to give you the support, compassion, and guidance you need to revitalize your mind and body.

If you feel great, then keep on doing you! If you don’t feel great, you deserve to be able to talk about your symptoms and get the help you need.

The post Revitalize Your Mind and Body: The Benefits of Testosterone Therapy For Women appeared first on Brentwood MD

Spoiler alert: testosterone isn’t just for men. Back for another round of discussion on hormone optimization, Nurse Practitioner Jen Justus joins me to dive into the myths around testosterone therapy for women, why it won’t turn you into someone you’re not and why women should give it a second look.

The post The Benefits of Testosterone Therapy For Women appeared first on Brentwood MD

There are some things that women tend to accept as a part of getting older — always being cold, low energy levels or an increasing waistline — but what if I told you that aging shouldn’t mean losing yourself? My right hand, Nurse Practitioner Jen Justus returns for an honest conversation about the warning signs and dangers of suboptimal thyroid levels and how to get your groove back after a slump.

The post How to Optimize Your Thyroid Levels appeared first on Brentwood MD

What does your health insurance policy cover?

It might pay for the cost of an ambulance ride to the hospital, important vaccinations, and annual physical exams, but what about your dental work? Not a chance.

You can’t hand over your general health insurance card at the dentist’s office. You need a separate dental insurance policy even for the most basic oral care treatments.

Somehow, the concept of “health insurance” ignores everything between your nose and your chin. It views your mouth as a separate entity that doesn’t deserve the privilege of essential medical care. How can that be?

My dear friend, Dr. Tom Nabors, DDS, is here to unpack this backwards way of thinking and help us understand how we managed to get it so wrong for so long.

As an accredited member of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry and Fellow of the Academy of General Dentistry, not to mention the co-founder of our country’s first salivary diagnostic laboratory, Dr. Nabors is a leading expert in oral health.

With his help, we can understand the true mouth-body connection to whole health.

Understanding the Mouth-Body Connection

Total body health has become a major trend recently, but it’s a new development.

“Today we look at whole body health and total body health, but it wasn’t always like that,” Dr. Nabors explains, “For so long, dentistry was excluded from the conversation about health. We look back now and think, well, why is that the case? It’s a body part, it’s not some box unconnected to the body.”

In fact, the mouth is the largest point of entry into the body!

Despite this, Dr. Nabors continues: “We tend to think of that so differently than fingernails or hair or anything else that projects out.”

There’s no other body part that doctors would dare to disregard the way that we’ve long disregarded the mouth.

We’ve all been taught the same Golden Rule of oral care: brush twice a day. And while the importance of brushing can’t be discounted, medical research tells us that brushing alone can’t protect and optimize your health.

It’s the microbiology associated with the mouth, Dr. Nabors explains that is linking your mouth to heart disease, diabetes, sugar control, preterm birth weight.

As a result, when we treat the mouth as just another body part to clean, we miss the most essential link to dangerous, disease-causing inflammation.

Dr. Nabors gives a comparison to this phenomenon that rocks my world.

A person looks clean and fresh after showering, perhaps even a bit healthier. But nobody can see what’s going on under the surface. He might look clean at the moment, but what damage lurks inside?

In other words, even if your teeth look bright and polished after brushing, they don’t tell the full story. Your oral system could still be compromising your whole health.

This statistic drives Dr. Nabors’ point home: In 2012, the CDC found that 50% of all Americans have periodontal disease. Half of the adults in our country are suffering the consequences of this disease, and many of them don’t even realize it. They assume their teeth and gums are “good enough” because they brush.

Brushing and flossing are essential components of hygiene — they can keep your mouth thriving when it’s already healthy. However, hygiene cannot serve as an intervention to periodontal disease. It doesn’t address the real root causes of the problem or stop periodontal disease from harming the rest of your body.

What Exactly is Periodontal Disease?

At its core, periodontal disease is the chronic inflammation and infection of the gum tissue in the mouth. It’s marked by swollen and bleeding gums, loose teeth, bleeding while brushing, bad breath, and pain in its early stages.

Unfortunately, it’s very easy for periodontal disease to develop. More than 800 species of bacteria live within and around your gum tissues, some good and some bad. When the delicate homeostasis between good and bad bacteria falls out of balance — whether through smoking, high sugar intake, hormonal changes, or genetics — your body reacts automatically with inflammation.

Inflammation is an essential part of the body’s natural healing process as it attempts to fight the infection created by oral bacteria. However, if the causes of periodontal disease remain untreated, your body’s inflammatory response never stops. It becomes chronic and ultimately causes severe consequences not just in your mouth, but throughout your body.

Health Risks of Untreated Periodontal Disease

We all understand that tooth decay is bad, but only recently has research proven the true threats that untreated periodontal disease poses to the entire body.

You have more to worry about than a discolored smile or sensitive teeth! Periodontal disease has the power to trigger bone loss in the law, widespread infection, heart disease, and other serious consequences.

Bone Loss in Jaw

Periodontal disease causes so much more than loose teeth and red gums. It destroys and eats away at your jaw bone.

“I know it sounds radical, but it’s not!” Dr. Nabors emphasizes. “When we say bone loss, what are we saying? You’re losing the bone of your jaw, which is your head, your face.”

How does this bone loss in jaw happen? Aggressive bacteria combine with the white blood cells signaled by chronic inflammation to break down everything in their path: first connective gum tissue, then the underlying jaw bone and ligaments.

Infection

As chronic inflammation beacons white blood cells to leave the lower body and travel into the mouth, millions of bacteria quickly take their place and hop into the bloodstream. This gives them the dangerous opportunity to travel wherever they want and sow the seeds of infection.

Just think about how quickly those microbes can reach areas of the body where an infection may prove fatal.

“They’re less than two inches from the brain, maybe an inch from the carotid arteries,” says Dr. Nabors. “We would never ignore pneumonia. We would never ignore someone with a urinary tract infection,” he continues.

Yet somehow the infections triggered by periodontal disease don’t receive the urgent treatment seen with other conditions.

Suggesting that just “brushing better” can resolve this issue is wildly misleading. Imagine only treating a diabetic lesion instead of the diabetes itself. You might clear up the lesion temporarily, but the root causes of diabetes and controlled blood sugar are still there, hard at work, ready to create another complication.

Heart Disease

Just 15 years ago, our main emphasis on preventing heart disease was checking cholesterol. But now we understand that oral health plays a crucial role in cardiovascular health as well. Research suggests that the presence of periodontal disease is likely to cause a 19% increase in the risk of cardiovascular disease! This risk level surges to 44% among adults 65 or older.

Though our scientific understanding of the links between heart disease and periodontal disease is always evolving, it’s easy to see how the rapid spread of infection triggered by periodontal disease can affect the heart.

Treatment Options for Periodontal Disease

Nobody wants to endure the complications of untreated periodontal disease. This is why it’s so important to diagnose, treat, and monitor this condition strategically.

Dr. Nabors knows this better than most dentists; he worked with his father for decades to develop the gold standard of diagnostics.

Back in the 1980s, dentists in America had few advanced tools to understand the microbial causative agents of periodontal disease. Meanwhile, Hain Lifescience, a diagnostic company in Nehren, Germany, was performing about 80,000 tests a year using saliva as the diagnostic medium.

“If you think about it, you can tell so much information from saliva,“ explains Dr. Nabors, “It’s not just this liquid that we use to chew food. There’s a lot of data in saliva and it’s easy to get.”

In 1982, Dr. Nabors’ father called Hain Lifescience, asked for more information, and gradually brought the technology to the United States. It was the missing link to measure microbiology that had always been needed to effectively treat periodontal disease.

The first company the Nabors family founded was Advanced Dental Diagnostics to help bring salivary diagnostics into the mainstream, and saliva testing has been used as the gold standard ever since.

When it comes to treating periodontal disease, Dr. Nabors explains his belief system: “I don’t want to treat the mouth any different than a physician would treat the body.”

Careful testing, blood work, evaluation of clinical symptoms, and conversation are all needed to gain a comprehensive understanding of the condition of the mouth.

Despite this, traditional dentistry still only measures anatomical changes rather than the activity of the mouth’s underlying microbiology. As a result, many adults develop severe periodontal disease before anything is even diagnosed!

Dr. Nabors uses a system that ensures every patient he helps receives a personalized treatment plan. No two cases of periodontal disease are identical, so no two treatment plants should be, either.

He begins with a visual exam and supplements his observations with the results of a saliva sample. By combining visual and microbiological evaluations, Dr. Nabors can identify the exact nature of the infection and prescribe the best topical antimicrobial.

Some patients also need an antibiotic to combat deeper systemic infections brought on by periodontal disease.  This multi-faceted approach heals and protects the mouth and body alike.

How to Achieve Whole Health Through Oral Hygiene

The body gets sick from time to time, right? It’s unavoidable. You catch the flu or stomach bug, but that doesn’t mean you did something wrong. The same principle applies to your mouth. Your oral cavity can get sick as well; sometimes your choices are the culprit, but other times it’s unavoidable.

Genetics, lifestyle habits, hormones, and many other factors all play their own role in your oral health. In order to achieve whole health and prevent the devastating effects of periodontal disease, begin by finding a dentist who is aware of the mouth-body connection.

You need a dentist who understands that having your teeth cleaned every six months can’t magically prevent periodontal disease or stop bone loss in the jaw. Ask your dentist a few questions to better understand their beliefs and practices regarding periodontal disease:

• How do you handle the mouth-body connection?
• What do you do differently than other dentists?
• Do you measure microbiology?
• What tools do you use, aside from visualization, to assess my oral health?

If this line of questioning reveals that your dentist isn’t prepared to evaluate the microbiology of your mouth then he’s missing half of the equation.

You don’t want a dentist who never thinks outside of box or dares to push the boundaries of medicine. Look for a dentist who feels compelled to treat his job as more than a standard 9 to 5 responsibility.

“Dentists have the power to limit inflammation and improve overall health,” Nabors reminds us.

By connecting with a dentist who appreciates the interconnection between the mouth and the body, you can enhance your longevity and embrace whole health.

The post How to Achieve Whole Health: Understanding the Mouth-Body Connection appeared first on Brentwood MD

How often do you think about the connection between the health of your mouth and the rest of your body? If you’re like most Americans, probably little to none. Leading dental expert, Dr. Thomas Nabors, joins the show to talk about the importance of whole health, co-founding the first salivary diagnostic lab in the U.S. dedicated to the mouth-body connection and the one question every patient should ask their dentist.

The post The Connection Between Periodontal Disease and Heart Disease with Dr. Thomas Nabors, DDS appeared first on Brentwood MD

Hormone optimization is one of the most important and misunderstood health therapies available today. My partner in crime, Jen Justus, and I have been eager to dive into the details of this conversation specifically for women; we’ve been holding up the dam, waiting to share this valuable hormone optimization content until the time was right.

Jen is extremely passionate about this topic. As a Nurse Practitioner and registered nurse for more than 23 years, Jen has witnessed firsthand the consequences of hormone deficiencies, as well as the incredible benefits of bioidentical hormone therapy.

Let’s dive right into the conversation that women need to have in order to understand the truth about bioidentical hormone therapy and optimization. Could it be the answer you’ve been waiting for?

What is a Hormone?

Hormones are produced in glands throughout the body as part of the endocrine system. We all have a general understanding that hormones influence our most important body functions, but the details are fuzzy.

Most of the confusion surrounding hormones develops because we discuss hormones like they exist in a vacuum. However, the endocrine system is anything but a vacuum. It’s a complex give-and-take system, where one action or change affects ten others. Most hormone changes occur simultaneously, not in a vertical, organized process like we imagine.

As Jen describes, hormones are chemical messengers. “They’re little molecules that are busy in our bodies. Sometimes they peak at different times in the month, and they all interplay with each other,” she says.

“Unfortunately, as we age, they don’t become less important, but they become less abundant. That’s where a lot of us feel the effects of not having enough hormones in our bodies.”

With so much confusion around the topic of hormones, even people who are genuinely interested and curious about hormone optimization may struggle to find a safe and objective place to pursue a conversation about hormones. You deserve to understand what hormones mean for you currently and as you move forward in your postmenopausal health journey.

Normal Vs. Optimal Hormones

One of my core beliefs, as Jen can tell you, is that the goal in life is not to survive. Ants survive. Mice survive. But humans should thrive. We are capable of experiencing life at an optimal level, not just a survival level.

But this wasn’t always the case! We’ve entered uncharted territory in the 21st century because our overall life expectancy has never been higher. Ancient Greeks and Romans rarely made it out of their twenties, and life expectancy hovered between 30 and 40 years of age from the 1500s until the 1800s. Even in the 1940s, the average life expectancy was barely above 60.

Today, however, life expectancy has surged past 80, and living to 90 is becoming increasingly commonplace. So 90 is really the new 60! We’re facing the reality that most of us will continue living on this planet for decades longer than our grandparents and great-grandparents did. This changes how we approach everything, from our financials and our relationships to our healthcare.

Our entire belief system needs to shift and force us to change what we consider to be normal. If you hang up your hat at age 55, you might still have a full 30 or 40 years to fill! How are you going to spend that time? Will you survive, or will you thrive?

Personally, I’m not interested in a normal life. I want an optimal life where I’m the best person, physician, husband, and father that I can be. It turns out that bioidentical hormones can be the key to help you live up to the best version of yourself.

What Hormones Do Women Need to Be Mindful Of?

Bioidentical hormones are identical to what your body produces, which is the reason why we’re such advocates for them. However, not all hormones are created equally — not even close.

Synthetic hormones are processed in a lab. They’re not identical to the hormone molecules our bodies make.

They’re a close look alike, but they’re not the real thing.

Intuitively, you know it’s better to replace whatever you’re missing with a natural alternative. But there’s no economic or political benefits for pharmaceutical companies or government agencies to fund large scale bioidentical hormone therapy research studies. As a result, we don’t have the hard data to prove what we know intuitively and anecdotally.

Pharmaceutical companies will devote time, energy, and resources to research studies when they see the opportunity to patent (and therefore monetize) a specific chemical or formula as a result. Bioidentical hormones can’t be patented, since they are identical to human hormones. No patent, no money, no research.

But Jen and I don’t need a $300 million research study to confirm what we already know —bioidentical hormones have the ability to safely and effectively optimize your health and your life.

How Can Thyroid Problems Affect Women?

Thyroid problems, especially primary hyperthyroidism, affect women at a disproportionate rate compared to men. In fact, women are 5 to 8 times more likely to experience a thyroid imbalance than their male peers.

Even though the thyroid is a small gland at the base of your neck, it plays a critical role in your overall wellness. The thyroid works with your bloodstream and brain to produce and release thyroid hormones used to perform essential metabolic functions.

The following list shows just a few of the dozens of functions regulated by a healthy thyroid:

• Metabolic rate
• Heart function
• Digestive function
• Muscle control
• Brain development
• Mood
• Menstrual cycles
• Body temperature
• Blood sugar
• Cholesterol

A healthy thyroid maintains just the right levels of its hormones, which helps your body to achieve optimal functionality and health. When the thyroid struggles to produce its hormone, the differences of optimal vs suboptimal become clear. Chronic symptoms quickly develop, including missed menstruation, weight gain, fatigue, irritability, always feeling cold, and intense fatigue are a few of the most common.

Thyroid disorders like primary hyperthyroidism are still some of the most untreated and mismanaged diseases, despite the advanced tests and tools we have to treat it efficiently.

Some doctors don’t want to engage in comprehensive thyroid conversations (and how could they in a rushed six-minute appointment?). Other doctors assume that a pill can solve thyroid problems, and they never peek out of the box to consider holistic solutions or re-evaluate misleading lab tests.

You need to find a physician who won’t mismanage your thyroid diagnosis, someone who can properly identify your condition and treat the symptoms you’re experiencing.

Should You Consider Estrogen Replacement Therapy?

Poor estrogen. It has taken the fall for so much of the hormone discussion, even though it’s largely innocent.

Overall, estrogen is a sex hormone produced in the ovaries that helps a young girl develop into a woman. It influences menstruation, feminization of the body, ovulation, and fertilization.

If you look at most girls and women in their prime of estrogen production, say between the ages of 12 and 40, they’re vibrant, strong, energetic, and stable. They have regular periods, no signs of heart disease, and generally steady health.  Women under the age of 55 rarely have heart attacks, a fact that’s directly correlated to the impressive cardioprotective effects of estrogen.

However, the rate of women with heart disease spikes after age 55. Heart attack rates for postmenopausal women outpace the rates of their male counterparts! It’s no coincidence; without the cardioprotective effects of sufficient estrogen production, women have to navigate a minefield of chronic disease.

Unlike the gradual decrease that men experience as they lose testosterone, women can lose their estrogen overnight.

Jen puts it best: “Our estrogen doesn’t just decrease slowly over time like a man’s testosterone. When menopause hits, the ovaries stop producing estrogen immediately. So we see brain fog, moodiness, weight gain, anxiety, depression.”

Vaginal dryness, atrophy, UTIs, urinary incontinence, and pain during sex are also huge factors in estrogen loss, but so many women are too embarrassed or ashamed to admit these symptoms. It’s difficult to divulge such personal details to a stranger, and they’d rather suffer in silence. But thanks to bioidentical estrogen therapy, it doesn’t have to be that way!

So who is bioidentical estrogen therapy for? “We won’t really start having the conversation until you’re fully in menopause — 12 consecutive months without a menstrual cycle. We also check to make sure hormone pathways are no longer responsive,” Jen explains.

At Brentwood MD, we use oral Estradiol, a bioidentical hormone, for postmenopausal women. We choose to use the oral form because it offers the best cardioprotection for women at risk of heart disease, stroke, and heart attack. The exact dose depends on each patient’s health, but we aim for a range between 75 and 100.

The benefits of bioidentical estrogen therapy speak for themselves:

• Reduction of cardiovascular disease
• Less breast cancer
• Bone health
• Protection from osteoporosis

It becomes easy to differentiate optimal vs suboptimal hormone levels after you experience the equalization achieved through hormone therapy.

How Do Estrogen and Progesterone Work Together?

Progesterone, estrogen’s dancing partner in the body’s careful hormone waltz, is a powerful addition to estrogen therapy because it prevents breast and uterine cancer. Simply put, you can’t take estrogen without also taking progesterone.

However, unlike estrogen, some patients can benefit from progesterone therapy before menopause. Its mood stabilizing and calming effects are known to alleviate intense PMS issues and help perimenopausal women sleep.

“The women in our practice who use progesterone therapy come in feeling more balanced,” Jen says.

A range between 10 to 30 ng/mL is a safe goal for progesterone therapy, and 20 ng/mL is ideal for most women.

Does Testosterone Really Matter For Women? Yes!

Testosterone is widely known as the male sex hormone, but its nuances might surprise you.

Aside from its critical role in male development and sexual health, testosterone is probably the most underrated hormone for women. Females do produce a small amount of testosterone in the ovaries. Young, vibrant women have optimal testosterone levels, but they decline as ovary function misfires.

Even though testosterone isn’t a huge driver in the female experience, its deficiency manifests itself in ways that can threaten a woman’s health and quality of life. Women suffering from testosterone deficiency often experience:

• Loss of libido
• Lower Drive
• Increased body fat %
• Lower Energy
• Lower Muscle tone

Bioidentical testosterone replacement therapy for women can be an invaluable tool to put the light back in your eyes. We see patients all too frequently who seem to have a version of themselves that they’ve lost. They want that version to come back out and help them be productive and driven, but it’s too difficult. Once we balance their testosterone levels, these women come back into themselves. The fire in their belly starts burning again.

Jen talks to women every day who feel unsure about testosterone therapy. “I  would typically think of testosterone as the male hormone. Bodybuilders come to mind,” she jokes. “When we meet with our female patients, these issues come up. ‘Will I grow a beard!? I don’t want to get too buff!’ But we use tiny amounts, just fractions, to bring levels back into balance.”

Though any level between 0 and 10 is considered “normal”, we find that levels between 6 and 8 produce the best results.

Who Are Hormones Not For?

Jen and I have witnessed the transformative power of bioidentical hormones time after time, but we know that this therapy isn’t for everybody. Patients with any active cancer or a history of hormone-sensitive breast cancer shouldn’t undergo hormone replacement therapy at all. Patients with a non hormone-sensitive breast cancer and who are now cancer free, along with any significant family history of breast cancer should check with their doctor about risks vs benefits. We’re always willing to explore the option with patients who beat cancer or have a unique family history, but we tread lightly and dig deep into health profiles to ensure the safety of every patient.

Women considering pregnancy should also be careful to avoid estrogen and testosterone therapy. Testosterone in particular is very dangerous to a growing fetus, so there should never, ever, be an overlap between conception and testosterone therapy.

Considering Hormone Optimization For Your Health

Women hit menopause by 60 but are likely to live until 90. This gives you three or four decades of life to enjoy as a postmenopausal woman. How will you protect and enhance your health during that time?

It’s not the answer for everyone, but bioidentical hormone optimization may play a huge role in giving you the best life possible.

The post The Conversation Women Need to Have About Hormone Optimization appeared first on Brentwood MD

Hormone replacement therapy is vital for long-term optimal health. Continuing the discussion from our last episode, Nurse Practitioner Jen Justus returns as we walk through the conversations women should be having around hormone therapy, the importance of estrogen and progesterone, and the “male” hormone women should consider.

The post Hormone Optimization for Women appeared first on Brentwood MD

As a private physician, I work each day to improve the lives of my patients. Not through pointless 15-minute visits and thoughtless prescriptions, but by providing comprehensive and personalized attention to every patient, every time.

I’m proud of what Brentwood MD has accomplished, but I couldn’t have done any of it without my right-hand woman. Jen Justus is equal parts genius and nurturing.

She’s been a registered nurse for 23 years and recently achieved the title of Nurse Practitioner. Her clinical experience unexpectedly opened Jen’s eyes to the complex and intricate nature of women’s health issues. And, she is the perfect guest for me to discuss the topic of women’s health.

“The needs of women throughout their lifespan change so much. They come into the doctor with hot flashes, depression, and so many other symptoms triggered by hormone changes,” Jen says. “But their doctors just start them on medications like antidepressants that don’t work long term.”

Jen has joined me to discuss the important implications of hormone replacement therapy for women. There’s only one place to begin this discussion: back in the 1980s when women’s health finally earned its place on the map and became a political priority.

An Introduction to the Women’s Health Initiative

The Women’s Health Initiative changed the game for women’s health, for better and for worse. While it drew attention to many of the significant issues faced by aging women —menopause, stroke, heart disease, hip fractures, and breast cancer — it also inadvertently made an already confusing topic even harder to understand.

Overall, the Women’s Health Initiative was a long-term national health study that focused on preventing heart disease, cancer, and osteoporosis in postmenopausal women. It became one of the largest women’s health projects ever launched in America, with 161,808 women enrolled at 40 clinical centers around the country.

Those 161,808 women were split between a clinical trial, an observational study, and a community prevention study. The clinical hormone trials studied 27,347 postmenopausal women ages 50 to 79 years between 1994 and 2004.

According to the National Institute of Health (NIH), the WHI Hormone Therapy Trials were designed “to test the effects of postmenopausal hormone therapy on women’s risk for coronary heart disease and on hip and other fractures and breast cancer.”

Why Did the Government Fund the WHI?

Though we’d like to believe that research studies occur as a result of human curiosity and generosity, the truth is that all research efforts are driven by some political or economic force. This is especially true for trials run by the government and pharmaceutical companies.

I can’t help but wonder: why did the federal government feel the urgent need to suddenly divert so much attention to women’s health in the early 1990s? It allocated $300 million and 20 years of manpower to the WHI, while negatively impacting other government-funded grant projects in the process. The answer, of course, has political undertones.

Back in the mid-1980s, women were rarely, if ever, elected to political positions in our country. The Good Ol’ Boys Club was still going strong, and only 13.5% of all grant dollars were dedicated to improving women’s health. The government’s spending habits emphasized the uneven attention given to male and female hormones. Of the money generated from that 13%, funds were disproportionately spent on fertility and pregnancy issues, with not a single study or insight into the long-term health and morbidity of women beyond childbearing age.

As patterns emerged showing chronic disease claiming more and more female lives, pivotal public and political figures finally started to ask why? It was around this same time that women gained traction in political forums and gave a stronger voice to females across the country.

The Women’s Health Initiative was the government’s answer to those calls for an equal representation between men’s health research and women’s health research.

How Were the WHI Hormone Therapy Trials Organized?

The WHI Hormone Therapy Trials were split into two main sections based on whether the participants had undergone a hysterectomy to remove their uterus. Women with an intact uterus created one group, and women without a uterus created the other section.

Due to the well-documented connection between unopposed estrogen and uterine cancer, only women who had undergone a hysterectomy received synthetic estrogen therapy alone (E-Alone). All other women received a synthetic estrogen and progestin blend (E + P). Each group also had a placebo group, which created a total of four study sections.

It’s essential to understand how this study was organized to appreciate its results. Even today, more than 20 years later, the top Google headlines for this study include titles like “WHI Study Data Confirm Short-Term Heart Disease Risks of Combination Hormone Therapy for Postmenopausal Women” and “WHI Follow Up Study Confirms Healthy Risks of Long-Term Combination Hormone Therapy Outweigh Benefits for Postmenopausal Women.”

Those are very strong statements to make, especially given the nuances of the data and the weaknesses of the study. As practitioners who believe in the power of bioidentical hormones, I believe that Jen and I have a moral obligation to help women understand this confusion and weigh the benefits and dangers of hormone therapy objectively.

The WHI Hormone Therapy Trial Results

During the WHI Hormone Therapy Trial, The E-Alone and E+P groups were given a single daily oral dose of synthetic hormones, either estrogen or estrogen with progestin. Keep this in mind, since there’s a huge difference between the synthetic hormones used in this study and the bioidentical hormones available today.

After nearly a decade of research, the hormone therapy trials ended early after the WHI Data and Safety Monitoring Board evaluated the data. They made the determination that the risks of the program outweighed the benefits. But what was the data, exactly?

The narrative of the WHI is set in stone — Hormones are so dangerous! Stay away from replacement therapy! — but the raw data combined with the limitations of this study contradict the narrative.

Understanding Why the WHI Hormone Therapy Trial Ended Early

Overall, the data demonstrated an increased risk of stroke among the E-Alone group. For every 10,000 women in the E-Alone group, 12 additional strokes occurred compared to the control group. Now, nobody can argue that one stroke is one too many, but does the addition of 12 strokes across 10,000 older women constitute the claim that all hormone replacement therapy is too dangerous to continue?

It’s also important to consider that the women in the E-Alone group were generally older and obese with high blood pressure. Their pre-existing conditions set the stage for negative outcomes since they were predisposed with specific risk factors. Yet the reports of the study, even to this day, don’t consider these conflicts and limitations.

Conveniently, this narrative also leaves out the fact that the E-Alone group did not experience an increase of invasive breast cancer, colon cancer, or hip fractures. The stroke data muddied the waters and created broad, extrapolated conclusions that blurred the facts.

We also can’t overlook the fact that medicine is an entirely different process today. The conclusions being drawn from this data are now more than two decades old. If this study was performed again today, the processes, procedures, and data collection techniques would be completely different. Are we blaming male and female hormones when that’s not the full story?

What Was Significant About the Estrogen Used in the Trial?

More than anything else, it’s critical to understand that the estrogen and progestin used in the WHI Hormone Therapy Trials were synthetic hormones.

Synthetic estrogen is derived from the urine of pregnant horses and made in a lab. This means that the estrogen used in the WHI trial was nowhere near what the female body produces naturally.

Jen explains the core difference between synthetic hormones and bioidentical hormones. “Bioidentical hormones are completely different, they are compounded in a pharmacy and made true to the molecules that our ovaries create.”

In other words, bioidentical hormones aren’t meant to merely mimic or look like estrogen. They are the same molecules as natural estrogen.

Jen says, “Estrogen is always seen as the bad guy.”

When in reality progestin is the synthetic hormone that robbed the bank and escaped. Research now shows that synthetic progestin is associated with higher risks of breast cancer and other complications when compared to natural progesterone.

How to Choose the Right Hormone Therapy

With misinformation and poorly drawn conclusions more prevalent than the objective truth, how can you decide whether hormone replacement therapy is the right choice for you?

Jen shares a powerful story that demonstrates the importance of understanding your choices.

“My mom recently shared with me that when she went through menopause she took a synthetic combination of estrogen + progestin, and she ended up with breast cancer,” says Jen. “Can you make the correlation between the two? Yes, but I don’t know if they caused the cancer. Having that in my family history makes the bioidentical hormone conversation even more important for me. I want to age gracefully, I want to live a long time, I want to have strong bones, I don’t want these chronic diseases.”

Jen and I believe in the powerful potential for bioidentical hormone therapy to improve female health, but we also don’t believe in one-size-fits-all solutions. We can’t stand on a soapbox and declare “All women need to supplement with bioidentical estrogen!” any more than the WHI can claim that hormone therapy is dangerous for all women.

The question is, does it provide more of a benefit than a risk to supplement your hormones to an optimal level once they start under-producing?

We don’t have the large-scale bioidentical hormone studies to prove it since the government and pharmaceutical industries can’t make money from bioidentical hormones.

Nevertheless, we believe the proof is in the success stories we witness every day. Even when you sift through 50 years worth of U.S and European studies, you won’t find a single study claiming that bioidentical hormone therapy causes harm.

We have to make decisions for ourselves and our loved ones, so Jen’s advice is the best out there: “Find a provider that can explain, intelligently and objectively, how hormone therapy may impact your health.”  Then decide how you can take that information and apply it to make the best decisions for your own life.

You deserve to feel amazing, reduce excess fat, prevent disease, and remain active and vibrant into your 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th decade of life. Jen and I believe bioidentical hormone therapy can most likely help you achieve that goal.

In the End, What Did the WHI Study Really Prove?

The Women’s Health Initiative hormone study claimed to “prove” a lot, but it’s our job to sift through the noise and find the truth. Synthetic hormones aren’t safe, but the simple presence of supplemental estrogen helped some women achieve positive health results in the trial period.

If we can take the concept of hormone replacement implemented in the WHI trial, but use bioidentical hormones instead, the options are endless.

“What a wonderful time to be a woman in the healthcare spectrum right now,” Jen says. “Our screening tools for cancer are top-notch, our education and training about longevity are better than ever. Up until the WHI study, women were treated the same as men in the medical community. It took this study to say, hey, women are dying, and we need to find out why.”

Jen’s right. Regardless of the conflicting data produced by the WHI study, one thing is undeniable. Women’s health finally came to the forefront as a topic that needs (and deserves!) to be fully explored, and now women receive infinitely better care as a result.

The post The Women’s Health Initiative: The Medical Trial That Changed History appeared first on Brentwood MD

Hormone therapy for women is a relatively new and often misunderstood treatment. Nurse Practitioner and my right hand, Jen Justus makes her debut as we break down the Women’s Health Initiative study, how we were misled by the results of this historic trial, and what it meant for the perception of bioidentical hormones. Women’s Health Initiative Study: https://www.whi.org/SitePages/WHI%20Home.aspx

The post WHI: The Trial That Changed History appeared first on Brentwood MD

Few people in the fitness industry impress me as much as Zane Griggs.

Zane launched his career as a fitness and weight loss coach in 1998 but quickly became disenchanted with the mainstream industry. The “standard” fitness principles he’d learned in school couldn’t deliver the results his clients sought. Zane realized that one hour of intense exercise with a trainer couldn’t undo 23 hours of poor eating choices.

This led Zane to examine the human response to food and prove that weight loss doesn’t just happen in the gym. Two decades later, Zane now harnesses the ideas of biology, biochemistry, physiology, and nutrition to help his clients achieve lasting weight loss, longevity, and optimal living.

Unfortunately, the weight loss industry is packaged to sell dietary advice separately from exercise advice. The two worlds rarely combine, leaving us at the mercy of misinformation and terrible advice.

We need to take a different approach, one that reduces our dependence on food. The secret weapon to weight loss, better health, and lasting vitality is hiding in plain sight: intermittent fasting.

What Is Intermittent Fasting and Why Does It Matter?

After experimenting with fasting for nearly a decade, Zane defines intermittent fasting as “any fasting within a day; a time-restricted eating window.”

The most popular intermittent fasting schedule sets a 16-hour fasting period and an 8-hour eating period.  For example, you would eat dinner at 6:00 pm and fast until 10:00 am the next day. During your 8-hour eating period, you enjoy healthy whole foods that nourish your body and provide energy before fasting resumes.

Intermittent fasting forces the body to use sources of fuel other than glucose from your last meal or snack. This makes it easier to burn body fat and lose weight. Although most people experiment with intermittent fasting to lose weight, this strategy offers so much more. It can easily become your secret weapon to create an optimized version of yourself.

We don’t just want to live longer; we want to live better while we’re living longer. Life is more than the number of years you’re on this earth; it’s the vitality, energy, creativity, and joy you experience.

The Fed and Fasted Spectrum

Your body exists on a spectrum. On one end of the spectrum is your fully fed body with high blood sugar and insulin. On the other end of the spectrum is your fasted body with low blood sugar and low insulin.

You wake up every morning in a fasted state. As Zane explains, “Blood sugar is low and insulin is not up. Your body isn’t in storage mode so you can actually access body fat.”

As soon as you take a bite of breakfast, especially if it’s high in carbs, your blood sugar spikes and insulin arrives to process and transport the blood sugar. Your body no longer needs to burn body fat for energy because it has heaps of accessible glucose instead.

By keeping your blood sugar levels closer to the fasted side of the spectrum for more than 12 hours each day, you make it possible to burn excess fat and push your body into optimized health.

Is Breakfast The Most Important Meal of the Day?

So much of our daily routine revolves around food, but it wasn’t until the 20th century that humans even had the ability to overeat on a large scale. There wasn’t enough food available. Now, we live in a chronically overfed state. Industrialized agriculture has made it possible to access food whenever and wherever we want.

We eat right before bed, shortly after we wake up, and as soon as we feel the slightest pang of hunger. Most people never enter a fully fasted state, which means the body never burns fat as an energy source. This explains why nearly 100 million adults in the United States struggle with obesity.

This trend is especially evident in our widely held beliefs about breakfast. Most of us accept as fact that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. After all, it sounds like advice passed down from generation to generation.

Get ready for your world to shake. It’s actually “advice” from a Grape Nuts commercial in the 1970s.

In an attempt to sell more cereal, Grape Nuts influenced our entire culture of health and wellness. The brand’s marketing campaign infused a brand new idea until it was universally adopted as truth by Americans who assumed the advice predated its actual origin.

So what’s the real truth? The exact opposite of Grape Nuts’ clever marketing ploy. Your body is already fasting when you wake up. It’s working to achieve a biochemical balance that optimizes physical and mental function. Eating immediately ruins the effects of fasting and forces the body to start all over again. Skipping breakfast isn’t just “okay” or “allowed”, it’s one of the best choices you can make for your body.

The Biggest Lie About Your Metabolism

Aside from the importance of breakfast, the ideas spread about metabolism are some of the biggest lies in the modern fitness industry. Metabolism is basic biochemistry, so let’s dust off the textbook and find the truth.

You’ve probably been told that your body’s metabolism slows overnight and needs to restart at breakfast each morning. You’ve likely also heard that eating five or six times a day keeps your metabolism revved.

None of that is even close to the truth. Research shows that fasting boosts metabolism. Some metabolites increase as much as 60-fold when the body enters a fasted state.

Yet food and drug companies are persuasive, so we believe we need to eat every two to three hours “for the sake of our metabolism.”  How does that make sense? Instead of helping to burn calories, our chronic state of overeating fuels disease that becomes profitable to treat with pharmaceutical drugs.

Our society’s entire focus has been placed on disease management instead of disease prevention or elimination. It all begins with what we put in our mouths, and more importantly, when.

The Real Effects of Insulin on Fat Burning

As soon as you eat, insulin travels into your bloodstream to transport rising blood sugar levels into cells that use blood sugar as energy. This critical process prevents the dangerous high blood sugar levels that lead to diabetes, but it doesn’t help you lose weight.

Research shows that insulin blocks fat burning. There’s no way to biochemically burn fat when insulin is present or elevated. Every doctor must know this to pass the medical licensing exam, but they soon forget its true impact on human health.

All of this means that insulin supports the creation of fat. If you eat immediately before a workout, the only calories and blood sugar you burn come from what you just ate. You never tap into belly fat, visceral fat, or excess fat in other areas of the body.

Benefits of Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent fasting is quickly becoming a health trend, which is good news for the wellness of our entire society!

Any method of eating that protects normal, stabilized blood sugar levels and limits exposure to insulin is the best answer. This is why so many people want to try intermittent fasting using a 16-hour fasted window and compressed 8-hour feed window. It only takes that relatively small fasting period to increase fat burning and improve body function.

Yet intermittent fasting offers many other valuable benefits beyond weight loss. By controlling blood sugar and insulin, you may protect your body from cancer.

Zane describes the dangers: “So many cancers are insulin sensitive and insulin causes the growth of those. Colon and breast cancer alone are highly reactive to insulin. When you have insulin, insulin, insulin, you have an overgrowth of cancer.”

Other recognized benefits of intermittent fasting include:

• Optimize Function of Cells and Hormones
• Long Term Health Improvements
• Appetite Control
• Reduce Insulin Resistance and Diabetes

This method is powerful because it allows the body to thrive without the burden of high blood sugar and insulin dependency. Once those issues are out of the way, the body embraces its natural instincts for optimal health.

How to Fast Successfully

Intermittent fasting shouldn’t feel complicated or demanding. If you’re a busy professional who wants maximum results with simplicity and reproducibility, just follow these steps to achieve success.

Select a Time Frame and Let It Evolve

You don’t need to become a fasting expert overnight. Embrace intermittent fasting as a progression. Start by skipping breakfast. As your body adjusts, extend your period of fasting hour by hour until you reach about 16 hours of complete fasting.

Zane’s personal preference is to fast until about noon, then enjoy a couple healthy meals until 7:00 pm. Sometimes his fasting periods fluctuate with his schedule, but he always makes sure to give his body the time it needs to thrive in an optimal blood sugar state.

Zane also recommends one 24-hour fast every week to optimize results and keep your body consistent. You may need months or even years before you feel ready for a 24-hour fast, and that’s okay!

Choose Whole Foods and Stop Snacking

Despite what the media will have you believe, eating healthy isn’t complicated. You don’t need charts, graphs, and Pinterest images to separate good from bad.

“What I do is, I focus on what is going to be the most beneficial for me? I’m hungry going into the meal, but I’m not starving or trying to replace what I didn’t eat all day. I’m looking at a healthy protein source, a lot of greens, maybe some healthy fats and fiber,” describes Zane.

Select whole foods that haven’t been processed. “You’re just eating later and making good choices and giving your body the best nutrition you can,” Zane says. If it didn’t exist 100 years ago, it’s probably not the best choice for your body. Draw inspiration from the Mediterranean, Atkins, and Ketogenic models to find the foods your body craves.

Understand The Connection Between Intermittent Fasting and Working Out

A three-hour workout won’t make you a healthier person if your eating habits counteract your efforts. It makes more sense to capitalize on fasted workouts instead. Fasted workouts involve 45-60 minutes of exercise while your body is still fasting.

Working out during a fasted period creates metabolic stress. If your body doesn’t have immediately accessible blood sugar to use as energy, it starts using fat instead. This increases blood flow to muscles and triggers a hormonal response for muscle growth. As a result, your muscles become “spring loaded” for growth when you break your fast.

Don’t Ask What to Eat, Ask When

I asked Zane to choose the one question he wished his fitness clients would ask more. His answer speaks volumes.

“People are asking, ‘What diet should I follow? Do I do Keto? Low carb? Mediterranean?’ What they’re not asking is when they are supposed to be eating! If you get when to eat down, you have so much more margin on what you eat.”

If you want to learn more about Zane Briggs and his inspiring intermittent fasting expertise, you can find him here. He’s not a brand, he’s a real person dedicated to helping his clients achieve optimal health.

The post How Intermittent Fasting Leads to Higher Performance appeared first on Brentwood MD